


Tsubasa!!! on Ice

by eternal_song



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, Fai speaks Russian, Hasetsu, M/M, Not World Chronicle compliant, Off-Season, Post-Canon, Skate family, Tsubasa family - Freeform, Victor Nikiforov Speaks Russian, drinking contests, for both series, graphic description of cuddles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-10-31 12:02:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10898964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternal_song/pseuds/eternal_song
Summary: Hasetsu is a great place to spend the off-season, away from the busy city of St. Petersburg. However, a romantic walk on the beach quickly gets weird when two men appear out of thin air- literally- in front of Viktor and Yuuri.Or, the one where the Tsubasa family ends up in Hasetsu by accident and gets a well-deserved vacation, Viktor finally meets a ninja, and Fai still can't use chopsticks.





	1. In Which a Couple of Weirdos Fall Out of the Sky

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zelinxia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zelinxia/gifts).



> This is my first YoI fic, and the first TRC fic I've written since a disastrous attempt at a multi-chapter I tried writing for NaNo 2010. This one is going much better, and won't be nearly as long. Probably around 4-5 chapters, but don't hold me to that. This chapter alone was 12 pages in Docs, which just goes to show how my writing tends to get out of hand.
> 
> Italics indicate speaking Russian.  
> Спасибо (spasibo) = thank you

Hasetsu was a great place to spend the off-season. It was a calm, clear day in mid April, and a gentle breeze blew southward off the ocean as Yuuri and Viktor walked hand in hand along the beach. Makkachin stuck close to them, occasionally chasing after a seagull or a puff of sea foam. With the World Championships over, they had a couple of weeks to relax and enjoy each other's company before Yakov began breathing down their necks to get back to training in St. Petersburg. So far, they had been indulging themselves with wandering the town, skating lazily together at the Ice Castle, and eating perhaps a little too much of Hiroko’s incredible cooking. They were also planning to have a small party in the next week with some of their other skater friends, which the Katsukis were all too happy to host at Yu-Topia in the hopes of attracting more customers. Yuri and Otabek were already there, with Yuri taking delight in showing his friend all of the things that were, in his words, “tolerable” and “pretty ok” about Hasetsu. Viktor hadn’t been able to resist goading the youngest of their group the first night they were all there, teasing him about missing the town. Whether he was right or not was beside the point, but that night had ended in an intense three-way pillow fight (which Yurio swore he won), several destroyed pillows, and a bemused Mari and Otabek agreeing on how close the three of them were. Yuri had accused Viktor of being an obnoxious twelve-year-old, Yuuri of being an enabler who had to stop encouraging said twelve-year-old, and Otabek of being entirely unhelpful. Strangely, he’d opted to simply offer Mari a fist bump as he passed her, dragging Otabek with him towards their adjacent rooms down the hall.

 

 Today the two younger members of their group were off elsewhere in the town, presumably finding more leather- and animal print-based fashion, which left Viktor and Yuuri to their seaside walk.

 

 “So how much sake do I need to ply you with before you dance with me during the party?” Viktor asked suddenly, a sly grin creeping across his face. Yuuri groaned.

 

 “Viktor, I’ll dance with you even if I’m sober, but before you ask, no. We cannot install a stripper pole in Yu-Topia’s dining room. I don’t think the ceiling is built to take that kind of stress.”

 

 Viktor gave Yuuri an exaggerated pout for all of three seconds before he cracked a grin.

 

 “That’s ok. But I wouldn’t complain about a repeat performance of your other dancing styles.” He happily swung their joined hands back and forth. “I still can’t believe you dipped me while wasted without anyone falling over.”

 

 “Hmm, just think of how much more coordinated I can be when I’m not.” Yuuri paused for a moment, then spoke up at another thought that crossed his mind. “Chris might be disappointed.”

 

 “Chris will just have to find some other outlet for his energies that doesn’t involve so much skin contact with my fiance.”

 

 Yuuri and Viktor shared a small laugh, and then lapsed back into a peaceful silence. Makkachin spotted another flock of seagulls some feet ahead and rushed towards them, barking excitedly. Besides them, the beach was deserted. A car passed by on the nearby road every once in awhile.

 

 “It’s nice, being back here.” Viktor said quietly, so as not to break the atmosphere. Yuuri hummed in agreement.

 

“Yeah. I like being back where I can read all of the street signs. Immersion has done wonders for helping me learn Russian, but it’s nice to not have to think about it.”

 

“I’d say your Russian has improved a lot faster than my Japanese has. I spent nearly eight months here and I still get confused whether people are talking about hair, paper, or a god sometimes.”

 

Yuuri snorted, which was exactly the sort of reaction Viktor was hoping for. He let go of Yuuri’s hand and wrapped his arm around the shorter man's shoulders instead. In return, Yuuri’s arm gently made its way around his fiance’s waist, and they came to a halt in order to lean into each other and watch Makkachin chase a small crab into the water. Yuuri sighed contentedly and leaned his head onto Viktor’s shoulder, and was rewarded with the man’s cheek being pressed to the top of his head.

 

They stood like that for several minutes, until suddenly a sharp wind picked up and began to tear at their clothes.

 

“Oh!” Yuuri cried out in surprise, pushing himself closer into Viktor in an attempt to shield himself. “Where did that come from?”

 

“Maybe from whatever that is up there?”

 

Viktor’s voice was full of confusion and apprehension. Yuuri to looked up at his face, and then in the direction that Viktor was looking. About twenty meters away, above the beach, the air shimmered in an unsettling manner. It almost looked like a bubble of sky had dripped downwards and was making its way toward the ground. The two men stared, speechless, as the bubble grew, dripped further, and suddenly burst with another gust of wind. Out of it, two figures dropped the remaining few meters onto the sand.

 

It took them a moment of blinking sand and astonishment out of their eyes before they both let go of each other and ran towards the two prone figures on the sand, but it was enough time for Makkachin to beat them to the punch. They heard a cry of alarm as the poodle leapt onto the two with a loud “Boof!”

 

“Why am I always on the bottom of the pile?” a deep voice shouted, presumably coming from the figure under the other person and Makkachin. Yuuri and Viktor drew to a stop in front of the two and stared. They were both men who appeared to be around the same age as them. The taller of the two, who was, indeed, smushed below his companion and a standard poodle, had tan skin and appeared to be East Asian in origin. Yuuri realized that he’d been shouting in Japanese, so that solved one mystery. He had short, spiky black hair and red eyes which were currently trained in a glare at the slighter man on top of him. The other man has skin paler than Viktor, if that were possible, cream colored hair pulled into a short ponytail, and a shit-eating grin on his face.

 

“Seriously. Get off me,” the angry man demanded. Yuuri jolted out of his thoughts and leapt forward to pull Makkachin off of the strangers.

 

“I am so sorry about Makkachin- he gets so excited- you just fell out of the sky oh my god- are you hurt?” he babbled. Both men looked at him before the red eyed one pushed the other off of him and stood. The other just laughed.

 

“Kuro-pii!” he whined, in a tone that reminded Yuuri eerily of Viktor’s wheedling. “Kuro-pii” huffed and reached a hand down to pull the other man up.

 

“ _Спасибо, Kuro-rin_.” he said. Now that he was standing, Yuuri noticed that he had one blue eye and one gold one. Both men were wearing white cloaks with matching designs on them, and the clothes they wore under them appeared to match as well. They were of a style Yuuri had never encountered before, so maybe these two had been traveling in Europe before coming to Japan. Yuuri knew little about fashion trends, but he wasn’t in a position to judge, with all the spandex and sparkles he performed in on a regular basis.

 

“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” the tall man said, at the same time that Viktor gasped and shouted “ _You speak Russian!_ ” in said language. All three turned to Viktor, but it was the blonde who responded.

 

“ _What a relief! We seem to have misplaced our translator. Could you please tell us where we’ve found ourselves?”_ he said, and he did indeed look relieved. Yuuri could sympathize, remembering all of the times he’d gotten lost in St. Petersburg and Detroit without being able to understand the directions the locals were giving him.

 

“ _This is Hasetsu, my hometown._ ” Yuuri answered. Both strangers looked at him in astonishment. “ _Saga prefecture, Kyushu, Japan, if that helps._ ”

 

“Weren’t you just speaking Japanese?” the tall man asked, looking a little confused.

 

“Yuuri and I live together in Russia, so he’s been learning the language!” Viktor said, looking proud. “He’s very dedicated.” The angry man looked just as confused that Viktor was now speaking his language.

 

“ _Kuro-tan, you’re scaring them with that scary face!_ ” the blonde said, poking his companion in the cheek.

 

“I don’t know what you said, but I’m sure it was insulting.”

 

“ _Anyway!_ ” the blond said, turning back to Viktor and Yuuri. “ _I’m Fai D. Fluorite, and this grumpy-pants here is Kuro-puu!_ ”

 

“I’m sure he just introduced me with a stupid nickname. I’m Kurogane.”

 

“ _I bet he’s being a stick in the mud. Call him whatever nickname you want!_ ”

 

It was like watching a tennis match from the point of view of the net, the way the two went back and forth. Even without speaking the same language, the two obviously had had this same conversation enough times to know the other’s response.

 

“Um… maybe we should continue this back at the inn? Are you hungry?” Yuuri asked Kurogane, and then repeated in Russian to Fai. Both men glanced at each other, then nodded.

 

***

 

“This is the best katsudon I’ve eaten in my life,” Kurogane declared as he and Fai ate. Hiroko grinned at the compliment.

 

“Thank you! After you’ve eaten, just ask Yuuri to show you to the hotsprings. You look like you could use a relaxing soak.”

 

Kurogane gave her a polite nod, then went back to eating. Fai barely spared the exchange any attention, opting instead to continue spearing slices of tonkatsu with his fork and happily shoving them into his mouth. He reminded Yuuri of when Yurio had first arrived in Hasetsu, with no talent for chopsticks but a voracious appetite.

 

“ _This is incredible. Yuuri, please tell your mother she’s a wonderful chef. I enjoy cooking, but I’ve never made anything this delicious before,_ ” he enthused.

 

“I can’t believe, after all these years, you still can’t use chopsticks,” Kurogane said to his companion, poking him in the arm with his own pair. Fai looked at him, confused, until Viktor translated the red-eyed man’s words. Then he just grinned.

 

“ _Maybe you just aren’t that good a teacher, Kuro-chi._ ”

 

Yuuri and Viktor opted not to translate that particular sentence. Kurogane seemed to understand that he was being insulted anyway, and shoved Fai on the arm hard enough to topple him over. Fai just laughed.

 

Yuuri turned to Viktor and, in English, said “They seem pretty close. Kurogane sort of reminds me of Yurio, don’t you think?” Viktor nodded.

 

“Yep! All gruff and angry on the surface, a total sweetheart beneath.” He had a point. Makkachin had immediately curled up between the two newcomers, and Kurogane was absentmindedly stroking the top of his ears with the hand he wasn’t using to eat.

 

“Do you think they’re… I don’t know… safe? I mean, I’m having a hard time figuring out what exactly happened earlier, with the sky spitting them out like that.”

 

Viktor frowned pensively before giving Yuuri a small smile. He gently squeezed his fiance’s hand.

 

“They seem like good people. I’m not sure what exactly happened at the beach, but I don’t think we’re in danger from them. But it can’t hurt to be a little cautious, at least until we get the full story.”

 

Yuuri nodded and smiled at Viktor. The older man had gotten a lot better at helping to assuage Yuuri’s anxiety over the course of a year, and he was glad that he hadn’t misread the two men currently sitting across from them in Yu-Topia’s dining room. While he may have had a lot of questions concerning their newest arrivals, they seemed like good people who were simply disoriented. Yuuri brought Viktor’s hand to his mouth, kissed his engagement ring, and then stood and gathered the other men’s empty bowls to take to the kitchen.

 

“I’m so glad you enjoyed my mother’s cooking,” he said to Kurogane, and then repeated himself in Russian to Fai. “Viktor, can you show them the way to the springs?”

 

***

 

Kurogane seemed delighted, or at least less unimpressed than usual, at the sight of the bathhouse and outdoor hot springs. As soon as he caught his bearings, he grabbed Fai’s wrist and dragged him to the changing room. Fai followed behind with an indulgent smile on his face, which Viktor recognized from Yuuri’s face whenever Viktor did anything particularly outlandish or silly. He was happy for them, that they had each other despite the language barrier. He and Yuuri certainly had their own issues surrounding communication, but at least they both had English to fall back. Viktor wondered if they should be trying to find the translator that Fai had said that they “misplaced”. Perhaps whomever it was was worried about the two.

 

Then, there was the matter of how the two had arrived in the first place. If Viktor hadn’t been sure that Yuuri had seen the exact same phenomenon that he had, he’d be worried that he’d hallucinated the whole thing. Last time he checked, the sky was not meant to stretch, drip, and burst like it had earlier, and it certainly wasn’t meant to simply drop people unharmed out of it. Usually people who fell out of the sky were in no shape to eat katsudon half an hour later. He and Yuuri would have to get the story out of the two later. In the meantime, Viktor left the two to their bath and walked back to the main dining room, where Yuuri was helping out with serving the guests. The dinner rush had started just before Viktor had shown the two new arrivals to the springs.

 

“Do you need any help?” he asked, poking his head into the kitchen. Hiroko looked up at him and pointed to a tray with several steaming dishes and a bottle of sake on it.

 

“Thank you, Vicchan. If you could take that tray to table four, that would be a big help.”

 

Viktor nodded and took the tray with practiced ease. After spending the better part of a year living in the onsen, he had become quite skilled at helping out with the various tasks that needed to be done around the place. He sometimes entertained the idea of living in Hasetsu and simply helping to run the inn after he and Yuuri were retired from coaching and competing. He placed the food and alcohol in front of the elderly couple sitting at table four, and they thanked him. He’d become a regular enough sight that all of the locals were used to having a foreigner at the inn, and nobody really spared him a second glance anymore. It was nice, to be recognized without being harassed by fans. It certainly made spending time with Yuuri less stressful for the both of them. Viktor gave the couple a genuine smile and a small bow.

 

Just as he turned to take the tray back to the kitchen, the front door to the onsen slid open with a slam and Yuri noisily stomped into the genkan, Otabek trailing behind him at a more reasonable pace. Yuri began shouting as he stepped out of his leopard print tennis shoes and into the house slippers provided.

 

“Oi! Katsudon! I found a new guest for you over by the train station!”

 

Yuuri walked over, a bemused look on his face, and Viktor followed him. There was no way he wanted to miss whatever person Yuri had brought to the inn. To his surprise, the person who stepped into the genkan behind the two young skaters was a kind-looking young man, possibly between Yuri and Otabek’s ages. He had sandy brown hair and brown eyes a few shade lighter than Yuuri’s were. Interestingly enough, he was wearing the same style of cloak that Fai and Kurogane had been wearing earlier. The young man looked up at Yuuri and Viktor as soon as he finished pulling off his boots, and then bowed at the waist.

 

“Hello. My name is Syaoran. I’m told that you may have rooms available?”

 

Yuuri smiled and bowed in return.

 

“Yes that’s right. My parents run this inn. If you come talk to my dad, he can set you up.” he paused a moment, then went on. “This may be an odd question, but are you, by chance, looking for-”

 

“Syaoran!” Yuuri was cut off by a sudden shout from the back of the dining room. He and Viktor both turned to see Fai rushing towards them, long blond hair still dripping and haphazardly dressed in Yu-Topia’s guest robes. Kurogane followed him at a slower pace, but Viktor could make out a relieved expression on his stoic face.

 

“Fai-san! Kurogane-san!” Syaoran called happily, rushing past Yuuri and Viktor to meet the blond man in a hug. “I was so worried when you weren’t with me when I landed, but when I heard that there was only one inn in town, I figured that I would find you here.”

 

“We’re glad you’re safe. Kuro-sama and I were lucky enough to run into Viktor and Yuuri over there as soon as we landed,” Fai said. Kurogane reached around the other man’s shoulder to ruffle Syaoran’s messy hair.

  
“Good to see you in one piece, kid. How’s the manjuu?”

 

Viktor glanced at Yuuri to see if that last sentence had made any more sense to him, but he looked just as confused by it as Viktor felt. “Manjuu?” he mouthed at his fiance, who just shrugged and mouthed “maybe he likes steamed buns?”

 

“Everything is fine, Kurogane-san.” Syaoran paused a moment. “Fai-san, why are you all wet?”

 

Fai laughed.

 

“Kuro-sama and I were relaxing in the hot springs when we realized you had arrived. After you’ve eaten, you should try it. It’s very nice.”

 

Syaoran suddenly seemed to remember that they were, in fact, in the crowded dining room of an inn, and he pulled away from the other two with a red face. He then turned to Yuuri and bowed deeply, apologizing profusely for causing a disturbance. Yuuri, in return, started waving his hands, declaring that it was no problem at all, he was glad that the three had reunited, no really, it was fine. Viktor just laughed and looped an arm around Yuuri, which got him to stop babbling. The two flustered individuals looked at Viktor with matching embarrassed expressions.

 

“Syaoran, it’s good that you’ve reunited. Would you like something to eat? I’m sure you’re hungry.”

 

“Have the katsudon,” Yuri and Kurogane said at almost the same moment. Syaoran looked a little bewildered, but agreed readily. Yuri dragged Syaoran and Otabek to an open table, telling Yuuri as he passed that he may as well bring three bowls, since he and Otabek were starving after being out all day. Yuuri smiled indulgently at him and then went to give his mother their order. Viktor turned to the other two newcomers and smiled.

 

“I’m so glad that you seem to have found your missing translator, although I admit that I’m a little confused as to how that works.” At his words, Kurogane and Fai exchanged a glance that contained an entire conversation. Since the two, plus Syaoran, didn’t seem to bear any ill intentions, Viktor decided that he could wait a little longer for an explanation of all of the day’s strange occurrences. He nodded to them and went back to the kitchen to see how his fiance was handling everything that had happened in the last ten minutes.

 

***

 

Yuuri was, in fact, handling it better than expected. Oh, sure, he was incredibly confused, and he knew that he was missing something that was probably extremely obvious about those three, but they were clearly good people, and hopefully they would explain everything once they weren’t surrounded by other people. For those reasons, Yuuri found that he wasn’t having trouble staying calm about the situation. Besides that, Viktor, Yuri and Otabek were all present and safe, so that was another three things he didn’t have to worry about.

 

He barely even noticed at first when Viktor’s arm snaked around his waist, but the warm breath on the back of his neck was enough to bring him out of his thoughts.

 

“I’m glad that we don’t have to worry about a separated family with a missing teenager on top of everything else that has happened today,” Viktor murmured, echoing Yuuri’s thoughts. Yuuri hummed in agreement. He remembered their own panic that time they thought they had lost Yuri in a mall in St. Petersburg, only to find him in the Disney Store with Viktor’s credit card. They had all agreed not to speak of that incident again. Syaoran, Kurogane, and Fai all seemed to be very close.

 

“They seem nice. I just have a lot of questions about them,” Yuuri said, turning to look Viktor in the eye. “As soon as Syaoran showed up, he, Fai, and Kurogane were all talking in the same language. But the weirdest part is that I couldn’t tell what language they were speaking in. it’s like my brain knew what they were saying without processing the language.” Viktor nodded, looking thoughtful.

 

“So you noticed that too, huh.” he pursed his lips for a moment, then continued. “Now, I’m as superstitious as any professional athlete, but I never thought I’d be seriously entertaining the idea of magic.” Yuuri groaned and rested his forehead on Viktor’s collarbone.

 

“I was hoping you would have a more logical explanation so I could write off ‘magic’ as me going insane.”

 

“We can be insane together. Maybe they’ll let us room together at the loony bin once we’re married.”

 

“And here I thought you were marrying me for the tax benefits.”

 

Viktor giggled and pushed his face into his fiance’s hair. They stood like that for a few moments, until Hiroko cleared her throat behind them.

 

“Yu-chan, Vicchan, can you take these out to the three hungry teenagers?” she said, holding out another tray, this one with three large bowls of steaming katsudon. “I remember when you were a teenager, Yu-chan, so I know that they must be starving after being out all day.”

 

Yuuri blushed a little, both at being caught by his mother and at her teasing, but took the tray gently and headed into the dining room with Viktor close behind.

 

At the low table closest to the television, Syaoran sat with Fai, Kurogane, Yuri, and Otabek. His cloak was in a heap on the floor beside his leg, with Makkachin sniffing it enthusiastically. The teen scratched the poodle’s ears as he talked, seemingly relaying to Fai what he and the other two teens had done that day while Yuri interjected enthusiastically every once in awhile. Kurogane and Otabek, meanwhile, seemed content to watch their respective blonds with fondly stoic looks on their faces.

 

Yuuri gently set down a bowl in front of each teenager, making sure to serve Syaoran first. He then sat down next to Otabek, across the square table from their newest guest, and Viktor took a seat next to them. Yuri had already begun shoving food into his mouth, but Syaoran and Otabek both took a moment to thank Yuuri for bringing their food before digging in. Yuuri was proud to note that both of the younger skaters had significantly improved in their use of chopsticks since they’d started learning. After a few bites, Syaoran looked up at Yuuri with stars in his eyes.

 

“This is incredible! I’ve had katsudon before, when visiting Kurogane-san’s home, but this is just-” he cut himself off, looking guiltily at Kurogane. “Ah, sorry, Kurogane-san, I didn’t mean-”

 

Kurogane cut him off with a low chuckle and a raised hand.

 

“It’s fine, kid. I said the same thing. Tomoyo-hime’s cook could learn a thing or two from Yuuri’s mother.”

 

Yuuri promised to relay the compliment to his mother, though he was once again confused by Kurogane’s words. For lack of anything better to say, he asked “So do you plan on staying in Hasetsu long?”

 

Syaoran actually looked apologetic as he shook his head.

 

“Not long, no. We were supposed to end up in Tokyo, actually. We were going to visit my… um... my twin brother, but something went wrong with our transportation.”

 

Yuuri raised an eyebrow at that. Hasetsu was so out of the way, on the northwestern end of Kyushu, that it was nearly impossible to end up in the town without meaning to. But, he supposed, this was a whole day of weird firsts.

 

“That’s unfortunate. Tokyo is nearly an entire day’s travel away from here- you’re not even on the right island,” he said. “Will you be able to find your way to your brother’s place from here?”

 

The three newcomers shared a look. Kurogane raised an eyebrow, Fai put a finger to his lips in thought, and Syaoran gave a short nod.

 

“If you could give us directions,” he said, looking back at Yuuri,  “And which trains to take, that would be a huge help.”

 

Yuuri nodded. “Of course.”

 

Suddenly there was a figure looming over him. He looked up in alarm to see Mari grinning at him with her “let’s tease Yuuri” face.

 

“Damn, Yuuri, where are you finding all these people? Are they just appearing out of thin air?”

 

Yuuri choked on his saliva as his sister unknowingly guessed _exactly_ where they came from.

 

“Well, I mean, technically Yurio and Otabek found Syaoran?” He tried. She just grinned wider.

 

“Yuuri, you’ve got to start warning me before you bring hot guys home. Or did you get drunk and forget about inviting them again?”

 

“I’m going to _kill Chris_ for showing you those photos!” he groaned into his hands as Yuri started making horrified retching noises.

 

“Whatever you say, little bro. But try and find guys who are _single_ and _not in love with you_ next time, ok? Now that you’re taken, it’s my time to shine.” she patted him roughly on the shoulder and then walked away as Yuuri slumped onto the tabletop. Viktor gave him a soothing pat on the back.

 

“You don’t want to know.” Yuri said, presumably to one of their guests.

 

“It’s all right,” Syaoran responded, “One time, when my father was younger, he got drunk and tried to fight an imaginary demon using a ladle as a sword. Kurogane-san had to put him to bed.”

 

“And despite that, he managed to turn you into a half-decent swordsman.” Kurogane sounded rather proud of the fact. Yuuri finally picked his head up in time to catch Fai’s confused expression.

 

“Where was I when this was going on?”

 

“You and the princess were busy sitting around and meowing like idiots. And then you woke up with an awful hangover.”

 

“Ah. That night I injured my leg outside of that bar, Clover, and you had to carry me home like a sack of potatoes?”

 

“Yup.”

 

“That was good alcohol.”

 

“Yup.”

 

And that was when Viktor got the brilliant idea to challenge the only other Russian above the drinking age in the room to a drinking contest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was based on a [post](https://zelinxia.tumblr.com/post/160285034296/fieldofclover-replied-to-your-post-new) on the lovely Zelinxia's tumblr. I've been a fan of him ever since I got into the Tsubasa fandom (in, like, 2007 or thereabouts) and so i'm excited that he's letting me gift him this fic. You rock, Xia.
> 
> This fic was beta'd by my wonderful sister, Natalie (littlefuzzydude on here, little-fuzzy-dude on tumblr), and our dear friend Celia (drygrasses on here and tumblr). You guys rock too!
> 
> just a few more notes:  
> This takes place after [this](https://rubydragon16.tumblr.com/post/159698814369/anime-plaza-cafe-x-shop-pash-official-art) official art, since i refuse to believe that wasn't canon, but before the events of the Yuri on Stage event.
> 
> I have Fai speaking Russian because ~~it was narratively convenient~~ Valerian fashion always reminded me of traditional Slavic fashion and, let's face it, Celes is basically Siberia. Also, as Xia pointed out in the comments, Fai's speech bubbles in Hanshin, when they get separated from Mokona, contain Cyrillic characters.
> 
> The comment about fashion is a shameless Eurovision joke, since it's coming up.
> 
> I know Fai is supposedly able to use chopsticks by World Chronicle, but I couldn't pass up the joke. 
> 
> There wasn't a good way to mention it, but they knew Syaoran had showed up because Fai was just chatting as usual and suddenly Kurogane could understand him again.
> 
> The honorifics usage in this fic feels a little awkward to me in this fic, but I'm not sure how to change it. it just felt so weird to me to have Syaoran not use them for Fai and Kurogane, so he ended up being the only one to use them at all. Any suggestions?
> 
> The mechanism behind how Mokona translates is (afik) never explored in TRC, and I always wondered how that would work for multilingual people, so I just sort of crammed my headcanons on that topic into this fic.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! any feedback and Kudos are appreciated! make sure to check out Xia's tumblr and fanfic for some quality content!


	2. In Which the Explanation Doesn't Help At All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Your demeanor is stoic, like a rock, and you're covered in battle scars. Your eyes are blood red. You have a big ass sword. I know what you are."  
> "Say it... out loud. Say it."  
> "Ninja."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this story is a lot of fun to write so far. I'm currently on a short break between spring and summer classes, so I'm hoping to get a chapter out every three or four days. Enjoy part two of... this!

“Viktor, please don’t get as drunk as you did before the Cup of China,” Yuuri pleaded as Viktor started on his third bottle of sake. “We can’t afford to lose customers because your underwear landed on someone’s head again!”

 

“Yuuri, my naked body is a gift from God to the world. Besides, people see me undressed in the hotsprings all the time.”

 

“Yeah, where everyone else is naked too! Not where people are trying to eat!”

 

“Katsudon, if your fiance starts taking his clothes off in here I will eviscerate you both. With my skates,” Yurio threatened in a low growl.

 

Yuuri looked away from Viktor to the other people at the table. Otabek looked impassive and was in the middle of showing Yuri something on his phone, who had only looked up for the purpose of glaring at Viktor. Syaoran was watching Kurogane and Fai drink with a mixture of apprehension and amusement. The other two adults were looking supremely untroubled by the amount of sake they had both ingested. Fai had a light flush to his cheeks, and was nuzzling Kurogane’s arm affectionately, which seemed to be pretty standard behavior for him. Kurogane… didn’t appear affected. At all. He may as well have been drinking water for how impaired he seemed to be. Yuuri was impressed; these two could likely drink even Minako under the table with no trouble.

 

Luckily for everyone else in the inn, the drinking contest had to be cut short when Yuuri finally reminded Viktor that people weren’t allowed in the springs while overly drunk. In the end, there was no meowing, no ladle-based sword fights, and Viktor was just this side of sober enough that he kept all of his clothes on until they got to the changing room. While in there, Yuuri pulled Yuri away from the group for a moment.

 

“Yurio, did you notice anything weird about Syaoran when you first ran into him?” He asked. Yuri just gave him a judgemental look.

 

“Well, yeah, he was just loitering in front of that freaky squid statue by the Station entrance! Your town has seriously weird taste in public art, Katsudon. Why couldn’t you have something cool, like Hachiko?” He paused, and then added “Or an Iriomote cat! They’re native to Japan, right?”

 

“Yurio, Iriomote cats only live on Iriomote.”

 

“Shut up. Why do you ask, anyway?”

 

“No reason.”

 

Yuri gave him the look again, and then rejoined Otabek and Syaoran in a far corner of the shower area.

 

After a thorough scrubbing in the indoor area of the bathhouse to give Viktor enough time to sober up, he and Yuuri finally relaxed together in one of the outdoor pools. Once upon a time, Yuuri had been the sort of person to shove someone away for trying to hug him and fluster at any physical contact, but living with Viktor for a year had basically cured him of that. Now he and Viktor were curled up together with Yuuri half in his fiance’s lap. Viktor’s fingers gently carded through his hair, which had grown much shaggier and now curled around his ears and the back of his neck when wet. In response, Yuuri drew lazy patterns on Viktor’s chest with his nails, occasionally eliciting a shiver when he hit a ticklish spot.

 

“Do you mind if we join you?”

 

Yuuri looked up to find Fai and Kurogane standing at the lip of the pool. He lazily shook his head, and the two gently climbed in and sat opposite them. Now that they were both unclothed, Yuuri could see that both men were quite muscular, but not in the same way as each other or in the way that figure skaters tended to be. Fai was built like a runner, with long, fine-boned limbs and an agile frame. Kurogane, on the other hand, had the defined muscle of someone who regularly did a great amount of either physical labor or strength training. He also had numerous pale scars littering the tan skin of his torso and arms, with the most notable being a large circular one on the right side of his abdomen. It almost looked as if he’d been impaled. Yuuri looked away as the scar slipped below the level of the milky, mineral-rich spring water.

 

“I apologize if we’re intruding, but we had to cut our bath short earlier to make sure our son was ok. Now that we know he is, it’ll be nice to relax for a bit,” Fai said, a serene smile on his face as he slipped into the warm water. His cream-colored hair had turned a dark gold now that it was wet, and it hung around his shoulders. Kurogane’s had fallen out of its normal spikes and was flopping forward at the front of his head.

 

“I’m pretty sure they know he’s not actually related to us, since we were talking about his parents earlier.” Kurogane said, raising a eyebrow, which Fai seemed to refuse to acknowledge.

 

“Don’t crush my dreams, Kuro-meanie.”

 

Kurogane just sighed in defeat, and Viktor laughed.

 

“It’s ok. Yurio is like a little brother to Yuuri and me, but to annoy him I sometimes tell people that he’s our son,” he confessed. “He acts like he hates us, but at this point he’s family whether he wants to be or not. He spends half his nights staying in our guest room, anyway.”

 

Fai laughed and leaned back against Kurogane’s right side. The taller man’s expression didn’t change, but he put an arm around the blond nonetheless. Yuuri found it sweet how they always seemed aware of the other person’s presence and emotions, even earlier when they couldn’t understand each other. He and Viktor were much the same way, although they were still learning their way around each other. Clearly the two in front of them had been together for much longer than his and Viktor’s year of cohabitation.

 

“How long have you three known each other?” Yuuri asked, hoping that it wasn’t too forward to ask. Fai hummed as he thought.

 

“I’d say it’s been about… four or five years?” He said. He looked up at Kurogane, who shrugged his free shoulder. “It’s hard to keep track, with everything that’s happened.”

 

“How long between the time we met and when the kid joined us?” Kurogane asked.

 

“Probably about a year, year and a half?” Fai then looked back at Viktor and Yuuri and explained further. “Kuro-pii and I met each other the same night we met Syaoran’s parents, but Syaoran was indisposed at the time, so it took him a while to meet up with us. Unfortunately, he kind of… caught us at a bad time, so it took us a while to become as close as we are now.”

 

“Sounds complicated,” Viktor commented dryly. Kurogane scoffed.

 

“You have no idea. Even I’m not sure of the exact sequence of events, and I was present for the whole thing.” Then, his expression softened into something close to tenderness. “But things didn’t turn out so badly. Syaoran’s a good kid, and we plan to stick with him for as long as he needs us to.”

 

Viktor and Fai both let out matching “aww”s, which brought a hint of red to Kurogane’s cheeks. Fai reached up and squeezed Kurogane’s bicep in a loving gesture, which only made the blush worse but succeeded in also bringing a tiny smile to the stoic man’s face. Fai then moved his hand to Kurogane’s left shoulder and traced over the skin where the humerus met the collarbone. Even in the faint light, Yuuri could make out a long, pale scar, running from under the man’s left arm and around the top of his shoulder.

 

“How is your arm, Kuro-sama? You were holding it stiffly earlier.” Kurogane sighed at Fai’s question, but allowed him to keep prodding at the scar tissue.

 

“Clearly it doesn’t hurt, since you can poke it like that. It’s just a little stiff from falling on the sand earlier.”

 

“Just because it’s an old injury at this point doesn’t mean you can let it get aggravated,” Fai said, looking a little disgruntled at Kurogane’s admission. “Maybe soaking in the springs will help it.”

 

“Fai has a point,” Viktor added, and both of them looked at him curiously. “I damaged my ACL when I was younger, and my knee still gets stiff if I’m not careful with it. And then Yuuri scolds me and makes me sit in here until I’m ready to pass out.”

 

“Smart man,” was all Fai said in response. Kurogane sighed and sank lower into the water, dragging Fai with him. The blond didn't react beyond adjusting to keep his face above the water level.

 

They lapsed into a comfortable silence, nobody moving much, both couples caught up in their respective cuddling. Even Kurogane, whose facial expressions seemed to only range from scowl to neutral most of the time, looked content to have Fai pressed into his side as the water lapped around them. Viktor seemed to be in a similar state. The arm that he had around Yuuri was relaxed and loose, not holding him so much as using him as an armrest. Not that Yuuri minded, since he was using Victor’s pectoral as a pillow. He could feel himself getting drowsy, and knew he’d have to get out soon. He slowly sat up and gathered the courage to say what he needed to say to the two men sitting across the pool. At the movement, the other three looked up at him, relaxed but attentive all the same.

 

“Kurogane, Fai, I can tell that you’re good people who don’t mean any harm, but… there are still too many unexplained occurrences from today. My whole family is here in this inn, and I need you to explain, so that I know that they’re safe.” Yuuri did his best to hold their gazes, red and blue and gold, as he talked. After he was finished, there was silence, and then Kurogane sighed and sat up, accidentally displacing Fai in the process.

 

“That’s understandable. Come back to our room with us, and we’ll get Syaoran to come in and help us explain everything.”

 

Yuuri nodded, grateful that the man had acquiesced. Fai sat up to and smiled.

 

“I can’t promise that everything will make sense,” the blond said softly, “but we’ll do our best to address your concerns.”

 

***

 

Viktor, Yuuri, and Makkachin sat on the tatami floor of Kurogane and Fai’s room across from the two men. Syaoran sat beside Fai, his cloak in a heap on his lap. Makkachin was, for some reason, incredibly interested in the article of clothing, to the point where Viktor had to keep a hand on his neck to remind him to stay. Syaoran looked nervous, Kurogane impassive, and Fai had an inscrutable smile on his face.

 

“Well,” Syaoran finally said after a few moments, “I think it would be best to just get this out of the way. Mokona, you can come out now.”

 

Viktor tensed, his hand squeezing Yuuri’s just a little, when the boy’s cloak rustled. From the folds, a small creature popped out. Makkachin barked in excitement and rushed forward to investigate. Both the creature and Syaoran cried out in surprise at the sudden lapful of brown fur, but the creature didn't seem too distressed.

 

“A dog! Mokona loves dogs!” it cooed, hopping onto the poodle’s forehead and wrapping stubby paws as far around as they could reach. Makkachin sat back and panted happily at the attention, trying to look at his own forehead to see what exactly was petting him. The creature didn’t seem like it was dangerous, so Viktor allowed himself to relax a bit.

 

“Well!” He said with a small laugh. “That explains why Makkachin was so interested in your cloak, Syaoran. But um… what exactly… is… Mokona?”

 

The creature, Mokona, sprang from its perch and landed in front of Viktor and Yuuri. It sketched a small bow, long ears trailing on the floor, and declared “Mokona is Mokona!”

 

It squeaked again as Makkachin nosed at its small tail, so the creature climbed back atop the dog's head and sat back on its large, rabbit-like feet. Viktor took a good look at the creature. It was small, about the right size to be cupped in his palms, with features that looked like a cross between a rabbit and a dumpling. It had a large red jewel on its forehead, narrow eyes, and a catlike grin. One of its long ears had a silver earring with a dangling blue jewel hanging from the outer edge. It was, surprisingly, very cute in all its weirdness.

 

“Ah. So you're the manjuu Kurogane was talking about,” he said, finally feeling one clue out of many click into place. Kurogane gave a short laugh.

 

“You heard that.”

 

“We figured it was either some sort of code, or you really liked steamed buns,” Yuuri said. “I thought about offering you some, but you didn't seem hungry at that point.”

 

“Mokona Modoki may look like a cute steamed bun, but Mokona is far better than anything you could ever eat!” the small creature declared. 

 

“The cutest bun!” Fai assured, picking it up and bringing it to his cheek. It nuzzled in close and made a happy cooing noise.

 

“Mokona is… well, they're a magical creature, although we still aren't sure what, exactly. We only know that a powerful wizard created them and their twin.” Syaoran looked like he was embarrassed at not knowing the answer to Viktor’s earlier question. “Mokona is both our transportation and our translator.”

 

“And our eldest child!” Fai declared. Kurogane muttered something about Mokona being “at least a century older than you, idiot,” which Fai didn't deign to respond to. Instead he continued Syaoran’s explanation. “Earlier, when Kuro-pii and I couldn't understand each other, it was because Mokona was too far away from us.  There seems to be a limited range of how far away we can be before the effect doesn't work anymore.”

 

“At least it was only half a day and not six months this time,” Kurogane pointed out, sounding like he was attempting to be helpful but not succeeding. Fai shuddered, and Yuuri and Viktor exchanged a look that agreed that it was probably best not to ask.

 

“That’s… kind of hard to believe, if I hadn't witnessed it myself,” Yuuri admitted honestly. “Yurio did say that he found you by the train station, Syaoran, and that's all the way on the other end of town from the beach where Kurogane and Fai appeared. It also explains why I can't actually tell what language you're speaking.”

 

Syaoran looked intrigued at this. “You can't?”

 

“No,” Yuuri said, shaking his head. “Viktor and I noticed it earlier. I speak three- well, almost three languages, and Viktor almost four, but he and I agreed on that point. It's almost like I hear you speaking, and I automatically know what you're saying, without my brain getting words involved.”

 

“Fascinating!” Syaoran looked like he'd been given a gift at this new information. “I always assumed that Mokona just translated into your native language, and since none of us are bilingual, there's no way we would have noticed otherwise! Incredible!”

 

While the boy muttered to himself about the “magical implications of this new information”,  Viktor turned and regarded Fai.

 

“The translation thing I can sort of wrap my head around. I never thought I'd start believing in magic, but there's no other explanation for Mokona and everything else today.” He sighed and pushed his bangs back from his forehead, a bit overwhelmed. “But what does it mean that they’re your ‘transport’?”

 

“Mokona can travel through dimensions! Mokona’s mouth goes real wide, and then Mokona swallows Mokona’s friends and flies to the next world!” Mokona declared, using the top of Fai’s head as a soapbox. “Without Mokona, these three could never get anywhere!”

 

“Um.” Yuuri says. He and Viktor gave the four identical nonplussed looks. “You… swallow them?”

 

“Through dimensions?” Viktor added, feeling like that shouldn’t have been glossed over. Mokona just nodded and crossed their stubby arms with a self-satisfied grin.

 

“It doesn’t even make sense to us.” Kurogane looked tired, as though he long ago gave up on ever understanding his own life anymore. “But, the manjuu’s ability to swallow anything makes them useful for storing things, too.”

 

“Like this!” Mokona cried out. The creature then opened its mouth… frighteningly wide, and in a sudden gust of wind it spat out a sword that was nearly two meters long from the tip of the saya to the snout on the golden dragon head decorating the top of the silver-scaled hilt. Yuuri and Viktor both jumped as it hit the tatami mat front of them. Makkachin walked over to smell it. He got a few deep sniffs before Kurogane reached out and grabbed it.

 

“Did I look like I needed Ginryuu right now, Manjuu?” He yelled at Mokona, who shrieked out a laugh and leaped away to hide behind Makkachin.

 

“Kuro-papa is scary! Protect me, large dog!” They cried shrilly. Makkachin just sat and panted happily.

 

“Wait a second!” Viktor shouted suddenly, and everyone turned to look at him. He excitedly grabbed Yuuri’s shoulder. “It all makes sense! The battle scars, the stoic face, the sword! Yuuri, do you know what this means?”

 

Yuuri sighed. “No, Viktor, what does it mean?”

 

“Kurogane!” Viktor said, pointing at the man. “You’re a ninja!”

 

Kurogane actually smirked, looking as pleased as Viktor had seen him the entire day.

 

“See, Mage? Some people can actually recognize the obvious,” he said, reaching over to poke Fai in the side, who giggled and shied away from the touch.

 

“Nope, still not convinced!” he swatted at Kurogane’s hand, which was now poking even more insistently. Kurogane growled, but he didn’t look too put-out at the obviously routine teasing.

 

“Wait, really?” Yuuri asked, raising an eyebrow. “I didn’t think there were actually any ninja left.”

 

“Not in this world, maybe, but back home there are plenty. And I’m the best of all of them.” Kurogane’s grin turned almost feral. “I was the bodyguard to the youngest princess of the Imperial family.”

 

“Until she banished you for killing too many people, you mean,” Fai pointed out, the teasing grin back on his face. Kurogane flipped him off wordlessly.

 

“This is amazing! Can I have your autograph?” Viktor asked, leaning forward and giving Kurogane the sunniest smile he could muster, the one he used when he was trying to convince Yuuri to go along with another silly date idea. It usually worked, too. Kurogane looked at him in bewilderment.

 

“My… my what?”

 

“It’s where you sign your name on something so someone can prove that they met you,” Syaoran said, obviously trying to be helpful. He looked a little like he was trying not to laugh at the situation.

 

“Um… yeah, ok. I guess.”

 

Viktor gave out a shout of triumph and sat back, nudging Yuuri’s shoulder with his own.

 

“I can’t believe it,” Yuuri said, completely deadpan. “Viktor Nikiforov, world renowned figure skater, fanboying over an interdimensional ninja. And no,” he turned to look Viktor straight in the eye, “this does not count as you winning the bet, since the ninja in question apparently isn’t even from this plane of existence.”

 

“Yuuri, you never stipulated that in the rules of the bet!” Viktor whined, laughing a little.

 

“We’ll just have to call it a draw then.”

 

Fai laughed loudly at the exchange, and Kurogane harrumphed and muttered darkly about nobody taking him seriously, he was a trained killer, goddammit. Syaoran just smiled at them indulgently before getting back to the original topic.

 

“So, yes, Mokona is both our traveling companion and our travel method. It gets weird.” he said. “We’ve actually been traveling through various dimensions together for several years now, although I’m not really sure how long, since time passes differently between dimensions. There have even been at least two occasions where we’ve ended up in the past of a place we’ve already been.”

 

“So are you three all from the same dimension?” Yuuri asked, and Syaoran shook his head.

 

“No. I actually grew up here, outside of Tokyo. Fai grew up in a place called Celes, and Kurogane is from Nihon- which is sort of like this country during the Sengoku era, but with more man-eating demons. I actually spent about seven years of my childhood in a place called Clow, which is where…” he blushed a deep red, “where my girlfriend lives. She doesn’t travel with us because she has too many duties as the princess of that country.”

 

Viktor raised an eyebrow. “Wow,” he said. “That sounds like the most hardcore long-distance relationship possible.”

 

Syaoran nodded wearily. Fai put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

 

“I’m still confused about- well, a lot of things, really,” Yuuri began after another moment, “But mostly I still don’t understand how you ended up here instead of in Tokyo, where you meant to go. Shouldn’t Mokona have been able to take you there?”

 

“Yeah, and kid, how do you even know that we’re in the right dimension? We might not even be in the same world as the Witch’s shop.” Kurogane said, which, from what Viktor had gathered from the conversation, was a valid point. Mokona leaped onto Makkachin’s head once again to address the room.

 

“Mokona knows the answer!” they said. “Mokona always knows when Mokona is in the same dimension as the other Mokona!”

 

The three travelers nodded as if that statement made any sense.

 

“However!” The creature continued. “Sometimes, Mokona doesn’t quite know where we’re going to land-” Kurogane snorted. “-and has to guess! And then, sometimes, Mokona drops unruly passengers who won’t stop roughhousing while Mokona is flying! And after that, Mokona has no choice but to land early, because imagine how bad it would be if Mokona just abandoned those passengers to the winds of fate, just because they got themselves dropped out of the wormhole a whole island before we were supposed to land!”

 

Mokona finished their speech, looking proud of themself, while everyone else turned to look at Kurogane. Once, he noticed, he reddened and spluttered.

 

“Don’t look at me, the mage started it!”

 

Fai just laughed and threw his arms around the angry ninja, who crossed his arms and hunched his shoulders up to his crimson ears, but otherwise accepted the other man’s affection. Syaoran had an indulgent yet slightly disgusted smile on his face, which Viktor recognized from that time Yuri had caught him and Yuuri napping together on the couch and didn’t think Viktor had noticed him come in. He leaned over and murmured in Yuuri’s ear.

 

“Seem familiar?” he asked. Yuuri hummed and a small smile teased at the corners of his mouth. Then, he stood and held out a hand for Viktor.

 

“It’s getting late, so we should let you get to bed. Thank you for answering all of our questions.” Yuuri gave the guests what was, in Viktor’s professional opinion, his most gentle, heart-melting smile.

 

“It’s no problem,” Syaoran said, standing as well. “We appreciate your hospitality. Goodnight, Fai-san, Kurogane-san. Come on, Mokona.”

 

The remaining good nights were said and Viktor, Yuuri, and Syaoran stepped into the hall. Mokona rode on Makkachin’s back behind them. The dog seemed perfectly content with this arrangement. Syaoran slid open the door to his room next to Fai and Kurogane’s, but stopped on the threshold while Mokona leaped inside and buried themself into the futon.

 

“Yuuri-san, Viktor-san… thank you.”

 

Viktor didn’t really know that they’d done anything worthy of thanks. “What for?” he asked. Beside him, Yuuri looked at the boy thoughtfully.

 

“You took us in, and you let us join you and your family for a meal, and you listened to our explanations without judgement. It was one of the most fun nights we’ve had in a while.” Syaoran rubbed the back of his neck. “We rely a lot on the kindness of strangers in our travels, and it never fails to surprise me how generous and kind people can be- even people like Kurogane-san and Fai-san, who have had a lot of sadness in their pasts. My parents always tried to teach me the value of kindness, and I think they would have really liked you. So thank you.”

 

Viktor was incredibly touched at the boy’s words, and a glance at Yuuri’s face showed that he was as well.

 

“It’s no trouble, Syaoran. Hearing stories of other people’s lives was always one of the best parts of growing up here at the onsen. Yours just happens to be the most unique.” Yuuri reached out and gently put a hand on Syaoran’s shoulder. “You guys are always welcome here, if you end up back in Kyushu again.”

 

Viktor nodded in agreement, and Syaoran gave them the brightest smile Viktor had ever seen on someone who wasn’t Yuuri. The boy nodded, gave a small, polite bow, and stepped into his room to join Mokona.

 

Viktor took Yuuri’s hand and led him and Makkachin to their bedroom. Yuuri’s parents hadn’t bothered to reclaim the unused banquet room, instead opting to uses Yuuri’s childhood bedroom as a storage area instead, since Yuuri never slept there anymore. The bed that Viktor had bought for the room was large and comfortable, but the honest truth was that, most of the times they slept there, Makkachin took up one half of it while Yuuri and Viktor did their best to occupy the exact same space on the other half. Once they were ready for bed, they curled up under the blankets and into each other. They were silent for several minutes, until Viktor finally spoke up.

 

“I wish our son was that polite.”

 

Yuuri smacked him on the chest.

 

***

 

There was a knock on the door to Syaoran’s room. He figured that either Kurogane or Fai must have forgotten something they needed to tell him or get from Mokona, so he stood and slid open the door as quietly as he could. To his surprise, Yuri stood on the other side. Syaoran smiled.

 

“Hello, Yuri-kun. How can I help you?” Yuri just shrugged in response, looking a little embarrassed.

 

“I don’t need anything,” he admitted, “But you disappeared after you got out of the hot springs so I wanted to make sure that Viktor and Katsudon didn’t bother you or anything.”

 

During their conversations earlier, when Yuri and Otabek were showing him the way to the inn, Syaoran had been incredibly confused about why Yuri kept talking about a pork cutlet bowl like it was a person. Otabek had finally taken pity on him by explaining that “Katsudon” was actually Katsuki Yuuri, a fellow professional figure skater. And he’d thought Fai’s nicknames for Kurogane could get weird.

 

“No, they just wanted to know what brought us to Hasetsu. We had a good conversation.”

 

Yuri looked relieved, so Syaoran opened the door wider and asked him if he wanted to come in for a bit. The blond boy nodded and walked in awkwardly, sitting down on the corner of the futon nearest to the door.

 

“Is Otabek-kun not with you?” Syaoran asked, peering down the hallway.

 

“No, Beka decided to call his family back in Almaty, since it’s three hours earlier there.” Yuri chewed his lip, thinking. Syaoran closed the door and sat down on the futon as well, facing Yuri. 

 

“So you’ve been traveling with those two for a while, huh? What’s that like?” the question surprised Syaoran a little. He hadn’t thought it was the type of thing Yuri would want to know.

 

“Well, at first it was a little weird. Kurogane-san and Fai-san were sort of in the middle of a falling-out, and my mom was depressed, and my dad was sort of being a dick, which was what caused everyone else’s issues in the first place. So things weren’t great, but eventually everyone got their issues sorted out.” Syaoran paused so he could figure out what to say next. “Kurogane-san and Fai-san traveled with my parents for a while before I joined the group, so when my parents… disappeared, it seemed natural for the three of us to go together to find them.”

 

Yuri blinked at him a couple of times before he sighed.

 

“That’s rough, but I think I get how you feel. I don’t get to see my Grandpa much, and I’m not close with the rest of my blood relatives. They all live in Moscow, and I live in St. Petersburg to train under my coach, Yakov. So really, I see Katsudon and Viktor more than Grandpa. They’re super annoying most of the time, but… I’ve known Viktor since I came to St. Petersburg- Yakov coaches him, too- and he’s so much happier now that he and Katsudon are together. He’s not all mopey and bored anymore, and he and Katsudon let me come over for dinner when I can’t stand any more of Yakov’s ex-wife’s cooking. In a strange way, they’re sort of like another family to me.”

 

“They do look very happy together. It was the same with Fai-san and Kurogane-san, honestly. They were both holding onto a lot of pain and guilt from things that weren’t really their fault. It took Fai-san longer than Kurogane-san to open up, but once he did, and Kurogane-san convinced him that he still wanted him around, they both became a lot happier.” Syaoran ducked his head and smiled at the memory of that morning in Nihon, once Kurogane-san had woken and he and Fai-san had made up. The difference in how they looked at each other had been astounding. “I really think those two need each other. Even though they’re from such different places and backgrounds, it’s as if they couldn’t have not met. It was Hitsuzen.”

 

“Hitsuzen?” Yuri tilted his head, confused at the word.

 

“It means… ‘inevitability’. Not quite fate, because it’s driven by the choices you make. My brother’s mentor, Ichihara Yuuko, was the one who introduced me to the concept. She explained it as an unavoidable end point driven by a single choice. If you made a different choice, Hitzusen would mean that there would be a different end to your path. But because your choices create your path, there are no coincidences. Just something that was bound to happen. Hitsuzen.”

 

Yuri nodded, although he still looked a little lost.

 

“So if a guy makes the choice to get roaringly drunk at a banquet after party, and then a year later he’s happily engaged to a guy he accidentally seduced at the party, while drunk, is that Hitsuzen?”

 

It was Syaoran’s turn to be confused.

 

“I… guess so?” He said, unsure. “That’s an… oddly specific example. Did that actually happen?”

 

“Complete with pole dancing.” And with that cryptic remark, Yuri stood. “Have a good night, Syaoran. I hope you manage to find your parents.”

 

Syaoran watched him leave with a sneaking suspicion that he had just learned more than he wanted to about his hosts. Once the door was safely closed, Mokona poked their head out from under the blanket.

  
“You know,” they said, a little sly, “pole dancing is also one of Mokona’s one hundred and eight secret techniques.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you to my wonderful betas, Littlefuzzydude and Drygrasses.
> 
> some notes:
> 
> Don't worry, Yuuri, the morning after the party, Viktor's panties will be on your head instead of Guang-Hong's.
> 
> I don't know if there's any cultural significance to the squid statue in front of Hasetsu station, but it's freaky and I like poking fun at public art. I'm an art student, I'm justified.
> 
> I re-read the entirety of volume 21 just so that i could find the panel where Kurogane gets gored with an icicle because I couldn't remember which side it was on.
> 
> I know the fandom jokes about Yurio being Viktuuri's son, but he's only eight years younger than Yuuri, so I really see him as more of a younger brother.
> 
> I have absolutely no idea the period of time over which Tsubasa takes place for the characters. I literally just pulled something out of my ass.
> 
> By "Syaoran was indisposed" I mean "trapped in a magical lava lamp."
> 
> For those who, like my sister, were wondering about the state of Kurogane's prosthetic arm: according to the Tsubasa wikia, "Chapter 192 of xxxHolic reveals that the black Mokona had a dream in which Syaoran's group returned to Piffle. Mokona also reveals that a new arm was made for Kurogane at Piffle."
> 
> An ACL injury is one of the most common sports injuries out there, and I figured with the amount of work Viktor has put into the sport, it was a safe bet that he had probably hurt his at some point.
> 
> I know some people use female pronouns for Soel Mokona, since they use that in one of the Horitsuba drama CDs, but CLAMP was always pretty careful about not using gender pronouns for them, so i decided to go with "they"
> 
> I don't know how old Fai is. I don't know how old Mokona is. I'm willing to bet that Mokona is still older.
> 
> Syaoran is such a pure cinnamon roll that I gave myself heartburn writing his character.
> 
> Any pet owner can attest to the fact that your pet can and will take up as much bed as they possibly can, no matter their size. also, can you tell that I'm a big fan of cuddles?
> 
> Yurio needs more friends, and Syaoran is a perfect candidate. All according to Hitsuzen*  
> *(Translator's note: Hitsuzen means Inevitability)
> 
> How many secret techniques has the fandom suggested for Mokona? more than 108, that's for sure.
> 
> Thank you for reading! any feedback and kudos are very appreciated!


	3. In Which There Is Finally Ice Skating, and Things Get Even Gayer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or, the one in which Yuri shows off and Mokona's appetite gets them into trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, italics indicate speaking Russian. Please enjoy :D

The next morning, all seven members of their new little group were seated together in the dining room, enjoying a light breakfast. Yuuri couldn’t help feeling that this whole experience was too surreal to be believed, which may have been why he wasn’t panicking about it. Magic is a thing that exists? Ok. Family of Interdimensional travelers? Sure, why not. Yuri bonding with someone his own age without having skating in common? Now you’re pushing the bounds of believability.

 

“You know,” he said during a lull in the conversation, “You should come to the ice rink before you leave and meet my friends who run it.”

 

Yuri nodded in agreement.

 

“Yeah,” he said offhandedly, “You’d like Yuuko. She’s cool.”

 

For some reason, the three travelers tensed when he said this.

 

“Yuuko who?” Kurogane asked.

 

“Um… Nishigori,” Yuuri said, unsettled by the reaction. “Why?”

 

“We used to know a woman named Yuuko once, that’s all.” Fai said, waving his hand. “She was very helpful, in her own way.” Kurogane scoffed at this.

 

“Oh, yeah, Syaoran mentioned her last night,” Yuri blurted. Everyone turned to look at him. “Your brother’s mentor, right? Ichi… something.”

 

“Yes, Ichihara.” Syaoran nodded, and then turned to Yuuri. “I’d like that. I’ve never gone ice skating before.”

 

Both Viktor and Fai let out twin gasps of shock and dismay.

 

“How could a member of my own family say something so horrible?” Fai wailed, slumping onto the table. “I used to skate  _ every chance I had _ back in Celes.”

 

“Calm down, idiot, he grew up in the middle of a desert.” Kurogane scoffed, patting Fai roughly on the shoulder. “I haven’t skated since I was a kid, either.” Fai jerked upright, slamming his hands onto the tabletop and startling everyone in the dining room.

 

“That settles it! We have to go to the ice rink!”

 

***

 

“This feels like a bad idea,” Kurogane said as he laced up his skates. Viktor and Fai were already on the ice, lazily doing figures around each other and laughing about something. There had been a bit of trouble with getting the right skates for their guests, since none of them actually knew their shoe size, but once they’d found the right size and Viktor had shown them how to lace the skates properly, everything seemed to be going smoothly.

 

“Don't worry, Kurogane, it'll be ok. Look, Yurio and Otabek are helping Syaoran out.” Yuuri pointed to a bench a few meters away, where Syaoran was studiously watching Yuri and Otabek lace up their skates while they chatted. He had left his cloak, and Mokona by extension, back at the inn. The rink seemed to be within the sphere of Mokona’s influence, however, since everyone could still understand each other. Yuuri wasn’t sure how they would explain to Yuri and Otabek why the three travellers suddenly couldn’t speak English anymore.

 

“I'm sure you'll be fine too. Besides, aren't ninja supposed to be graceful?” Yuuri gave Kurogane a teasing smile. The man snorted a laugh and stood, managing to remain steady on the blades.

 

“I'm more of a brute force ninja than a stealth ninja, but yeah. I'll be fine as long as the mage doesn't decide to knock me over.”

 

While wondering if that was something Fai would do, another thought occurred to him.

 

“You keep calling him that. Is he actually a mage?”

 

Kurogane gave Yuuri a curious glance out of the corner of his eye.

 

“Yeah, pretty powerful, too. He just doesn't do magic in worlds where people aren't used to seeing it. We've had a few close shaves with angry villagers.” Well, ok, that seemed fair. Yuuri might react badly too if he saw a man doing magic without warning. The only reason he hadn't panicked too much on the beach had been because he had been concerned for Fai and Kurogane’s safety.

 

Kurogane walked as steadily as he could to the gate and stared contemplatively down at the ice. Yuuri walked up behind him, craning his neck to make eye contact with him.

 

“You'll be fine,” he said. “Just hang onto the boards until you're sure you have your balance.”

 

The tall man nodded and stepped onto the ice, surprisingly steady for a man who hadn't done so in years.  Meanwhile, Viktor launched himself into a double axel and Fai clapped in amazement, letting out a noise that sounded like “Hyuu!”

 

“I thought I told you to stop that stupid fake whistling!” Kurogane shouted to him, sounding like he already knew he'd lost the argument. Fai laughed and turned to skate towards where Kurogane was standing, one hand on the boards.

 

“Kuro-tan, you know I can't actually whistle! Remember the last time I tried?”

 

There was some sort of in-joke there that Yuuri wasn't getting, but he let them be and skated out to Viktor, who took his hand and pulled him into a one-armed hug. They began moving counterclockwise around the rink, not in any hurry. Eventually the teenagers came and joined them on the ice, with Yuri and Otabek each letting Syaoran hold onto an arm as he did his level best not to fall. After about a lap around, he seemed to grow more steady on his feet, growing confident enough to take his hands back and try for longer pulls on each foot. Yuri skated in front of him and turned so that he was skating backwards so that he could continue their conversation. What a show-off. Meanwhile, Fai had an arm looped through Kurogane’s and was chatting animatedly while dragging the ninja, who looked incredibly resigned to the whole thing.

 

Yuuri noticed that Yuuko was standing on the other side of the boards near the main entrance to the rink, so he and Viktor skated over. She smiled brightly at them and leaned over to rest her elbows on the barrier in front of her.

 

“Your new friends seem nice, Yuuri,” she said, gesturing at the three travelers. “How did you meet them?”

 

Yuuri decided it would be best to give her a very amended version of the events that had transpired.

 

“Well, they had sort of gotten separated, so Viktor and I found Kurogane and Fai on the beach by the inn, and then Yuri and Otabek found Syaoran over near the train station. We didn't know they were looking for each other, so it was kind of serendipitous that we all ended up back at Yu-Topia.” He looked back at the others, who all seemed to be enjoying themselves. “Thanks for letting us bring them here now, by the way. I know it's not time for public skating for a few hours.”

 

Yuuko waved him off.

 

“It's no problem, Yuuri. Besides, it's nice seeing Yurio make a new friend. I worry about him, sometimes.”

 

“We all do,” Viktor agreed, smiling fondly at the blond teen, who was showing off a step sequence to an impressed Syaoran. “I think they have quite a bit in common, under the surface.”

 

As they watched, Syaoran managed to finally settle into a more natural rhythm. He even attempted a little bunny hop, which, while by no means impressive, was very cute and made Yuri laugh. Then, because he couldn’t help himself, Yuri sped away from them and launched into a quad toe loop, even though he hadn’t bothered to warm up properly. Yuuri made a mental note to scold him for that later. Syaoran applauded next to a resigned-looking Otabek.

 

“What a show-off,” Yuuko said with a giggle, echoing Yuuri’s earlier thought. “I’m going to go man the front desk. Have a good morning, you two!”

 

Yuuri and Viktor bade her farewell and then made their way over to the other two adults. By now, Kurogane looked much more steady and relaxed on his feet, and was having a low, murmured conversation with Fai. He looked up at their approach, and Fai smiled at them once he noticed.

 

“This is great,” he said, “Thank you for bringing us here. It's been several years since I've done this.”

 

“So you guys do this kind of thing for a living?” Kurogane asked, and he looked like he was bordering on impressed. From him, that was almost flattering.

 

“Yes. Yurio and Otabek do as well.” Yuuri nodded in the direction of the teens. “Although you probably guessed that, from how hard Yurio is trying to impress the others.”

 

“I took most of the last year off to coach Yuuri,” Viktor said, “But now we both compete and train at my home rink in Russia. Yurio and I share a coach with some other skaters, and then Yakov and I coach Yuuri together.”

 

“You compete and coach?” Kurogane’s eyebrow rose on his forehead.

 

“Impressive! What made you decide to start coaching?” Fai asked.

 

“Well~! It's a funny story,” Viktor started.

 

“Viktor, no…”

 

“You see, Yuuri had the bright idea to get wasted at the previous Grand Prix Final Banquet’s after-party and challenge everyone to a dance-off!”

 

“Viktor, please!”

 

“And then he hugged me and told me that if he won the dance-off, I should be his coach!”

 

“Viktor, stop!”

 

“And I fell in love instantly!”

 

Yuuri sighed and put his face in his hands as Viktor finished his story. At least he could still comfort himself with the fact that everyone involved had agreed not to allow the story to get out to the media, but that didn't stop Viktor from telling anyone else about what he claimed was “one of the best nights of my life!”.

 

“Anyway, then I went back to competing because I realized how much I wanted to compete against Yuuri.” Viktor clapped his hands together as if closing a book. “What about you two? How did you meet?”

 

Kurogane and Fai shared a look, and then Kurogane answered simply, “I got banished from my world. He ran away from his. We both ended up at the shop run by the Dimensional Witch at the same time the kid’s parents did. We all had different reasons for needing to travel through dimensions, but we all ended up traveling together because the manjuu was the only way to do it. The idiot was annoying, and then he got less annoying.”

 

That was… a remarkably succinct way to tell what was obviously an incredibly complicated story.

 

“Aww, Kuro-wan, that's one of the nicest things you've ever said about me!” Fai cooed, wrapping the taller man up in a hug and nearly causing them both to topple onto the ice. Kurogane blushed, but scoffed and said, “It’s true, isn’t it?”

 

Standing next to the two, Yuuri realized just how incredibly tall they both were. He had thought Christophe was tall, but he was sure that Kurogane had at least ten centimeters on him, if not more. Fai was shorter than Kurogane, but that wasn't saying much, as he was still at least half a head taller than Viktor. It was jarring. Yuuri hadn't thought Japanese men could get as tall as Kurogane was, but maybe there was something in the water where he grew up.

 

“Hey! Katsudon, Old Man!” Yuri shouted. They turned and saw that the teenagers had moved off of the ice, with Yuri standing at the gate while Otabek and Syaoran sat removing their skates. “We’re hungry! Buy us lunch!”

 

***

 

It took a while to decide where to eat. Syaoran said he was game for anything. Fai asked that they please not get sushi.

 

“What’s the matter, Mage?” Kurogane asked, leering at the shorter man. “You mean you don’t want to eat some delicious,  _ slippery, RAW FISH _ ?” His face got closer to Fai’s with every word of that description, while Fai’s expression grew ever more disgusted and uncomfortable.

 

Yuri suggested the ramen stand, but there wasn’t enough space for them to all sit and eat there. Otabek offered no suggestion at all, claiming he knew little about Japanese food. Finally, Kurogane asked if there was any place around that served okonomiyaki. As luck would have it, there was exactly one okonomiyaki restaurant in Hasetsu, run by a lovely Osakan couple who had retired to Kyushu to get away from the busy crowds. Half an hour later they were all seated and happily eating their creations, although Yuri had discovered that he didn’t much like the okonomiyaki sauce. For some reason, Syaoran kept looking around as if expecting to see someone in the restaurant.

 

“Looking for His Majesty?” Kurogane asked, straight-faced but clearly teasing from the way Syaoran flushed. At everyone else’s confused looks, Fai laughed.

 

“The first time we were in one of these restaurants, we saw someone who looked uncannily like Sakura’s older brother,” he elaborated. “He ended up being our waiter.”

 

“Sakura?” Yuri asked.

 

“My girlfriend.” Syaoran’s face was still red and he hunched over as if trying to hide. “Touya… doesn’t really like me. Even when we were all kids, he didn’t like me being friends with Sakura.”

 

“His loss,” Yuri snorted. Otabek nodded in agreement. Their encouragement made Syaoran straighten a little and flash the both of them a grateful smile.

 

Everyone was pretty hungry after a morning of physical activity, so silence reigned at the table for several minutes while they resumed eating. It was only towards the end of the meal that Viktor spoke up.

 

“So, Yuuri and I have been considering how best to make sure that Fai, Kurogane, and Syaoran all end up safely where they’re going,” he said, bringing up a genuine concern they had about the whole situation. “After all, they got lost in Japan once, and they can probably do it again.”

 

Fai laughed and poked Kurogane in the cheek, saying, “He’s talking about you, Kuro-chu!”

 

“This situation is at least half your fault.”

 

“A-anyway,” Yuuri cut in, wanting to get the suggestion out into the open, “We were thinking that we could accompany you, since we have to get supplies for a party that we’re throwing anyway. We were going to go shopping in Fukuoka, but Tokyo works just as well.” he glanced nervously between the three travelers. He hoped that the idea wasn’t overstepping the bounds of their new friendship. To his relief, though, Syaoran and Fai both smiled, and Kurogane’s expression softened, which was basically the same thing with him.

 

“That would be very helpful!” Syaoran said, looking excited at the prospect. “You’ve already done so much for us, though, are you sure that it’s not too much trouble?”

 

“Of course not,” Viktor laughed. “It’s not like we’ll be missing training or anything.”

 

“You’d do it even if it did mean missing training!” Yuri accused, looking miffed. “And why wasn’t I invited?”

 

“Don’t worry, you are,” Yuuri said. “And so are you, Otabek, if you’d like to come.”

 

Yuri and Syaoran turned to Otabek with twin pleading expressions, to which he nodded and murmured an “of course.” 

 

Once that was settled, they quickly fell into making plans for how best to get from Hasetsu to the middle of Tokyo. It didn’t take long for them to figure out that it would be best to wait for the next morning. It was over six hours by train just to Tokyo, not counting time for travel within the city itself, so in order to make the best use of their time, they would need to leave before six AM. Both Yuri and Yuuri grumbled about waking up that early during the off-season, but nobody actually argued. As they walked through the town, they split up at the main road, with the teenagers headed back to Yu-Topia and the adults going to the train station to purchase the tickets for the next day.

 

“Bye, Yurio! Behave!” Viktor called after them, which earned him a middle finger.

 

The walk to the train station was fairly long, but they spent most of it telling each other stories of funny moments that had happened to them. Fai had Viktor howling with his story of a world populated by talking fox creatures that wanted to sacrifice him to a tornado which was not, in fact, an angry god, but just caused by the magical artifact they were searching for. Kurogane interjected that he’d gotten the worse end of the deal, having to fight his way through ever-increasing winds with two small humans in tow, while Fai got to stay behind and convince the locals to have a party. In return, Yuuri told them about the incident the night before the Cup of China, where Viktor had beaten Yuuri’s former coach in a drinking contest and proceeded to strip himself entirely naked, which in the end meant that they’d had to enlist the definitely underage Guang-Hong to translate to the scandalized restaurant staff and repaid him with Viktor’s underwear landing on his head. Then Viktor’s naked ass had ended up photographed for the world to see, and Yuuri had been convinced that, if he lost, people would think that it was because Viktor had been too rough with him the night before. That last part had even Kurogane stifling laughter behind a hand.

 

“And we weren’t even sleeping together yet!” Yuuri cried, gesturing between himself and Viktor. “We’d only just started dating, and suddenly I knew exactly what Viktor’s underwear looks like! Not the way I envisioned it happening, frankly. But then two days later, he tackled me onto the ice after my free skate with a very, very public kiss. So the point was moot.”

 

Fai “aww”ed and sighed.

 

“Yes,” he said, holding up his and Kurogane’s joined hands. “My Kuro-sama is a fan of making grand romantic gestures, too. I didn’t always appreciate them at the time, but looking back, I can see them for what they were.”

 

“Does saving your life repeatedly really count as romantic?” Kurogane asked, although he was blushing again.

 

“Yes,” the other three responded immediately, and Kurogane conceded the point.

 

They walked another block or so until Kurogane spoke up.

 

“Is that it?” he asked, gesturing at the large building that was Hasetsu station.

 

“ _ Oh dear, we’re out of range _ ,” Fai lamented with an exaggerated sigh. Kurogane rolled his eyes, understanding the man’s tone, if not the words.

 

“Yeah, that’s Hasetsu Station. The ticket counter is just inside,” Yuuri confirmed. Viktor said the same thing to Fai in Russian a moment later. As they approached the large building, Fai pulled Kurogane to a halt in front of the squid statue.

 

“ _ Wow! What an interesting sculpture! It reminds me of that creepy guy, Kyle! _ ” he exclaimed. Yuuri translated this to Kurogane, who immediately snorted out a laugh. Yuuri decided he didn’t really want to know.

 

At the entrance, Kurogane held the doors open for them, and Fai immediately went to find the restroom. Viktor wandered over to the side to, once again, ogle the posters of Yuuri on the walls which hadn’t been taken down since they’d come back after Worlds. Yuuri was the one who would have the best luck buying tickets anyway, and since Syaoran had told him which station was closest to their destination, Kurogane simply tagged along with him since he was curious. It turned out that one of the available routes only entailed two transfers, so Yuuri shelled out for seven tickets for the slightly more expensive but ultimately timesaving choice. Kurogane hummed in thought.

 

“You know, we don’t actually have any of this world’s currency, but we usually pawn stuff from previous worlds to pay for our room and board. We can pay you back for the tickets, as well.”

 

Yuuri just shook his head and put the tickets into his wallet.

 

“It’s ok,” he said, “Viktor has plenty of money from all the competitions he’s won and sponsorship deals he’s had. He and I already discussed this earlier, before we went to Ice Castle. Our treat, I promise.”

 

Kurogane opened his mouth to respond to that when suddenly a group of giggly young women whom Yuuri vaguely recognized from high school came up to the ticket counter. Both men stepped back to give them space. A couple of the women did a double take at how tall Kurogane was, and then exploded into more giggles and excited whispers to each other. The man raised an eyebrow, then turned and walked towards a bench to wait for Fai. Viktor was standing a few feet away, watching the exchange with amusement, so Yuuri went over and slipped under his arm to lean against the wall beside him.

 

“Do you think Fai got lost?” He asked, realizing that it had been a few minutes since Fai should have come back.

 

“That, or distracted.” Kurogane didn’t sound too worried, so Yuuri shrugged and let the matter drop. One of the girls from the group buying tickets broke off and walked up to where Kurogane was sitting and sat right next to him.

 

“Are you a friend of Yuuri’s?” she asked him, seeming not to notice how uncomfortable he looked. When he didn’t answer beyond a curt nod, she tried again. “I’m Aiko. Can I show you around town?”

 

“I’m fine,” he said, still not making eye contact. Viktor and Yuuri were both trying their level best not to audibly giggle at the two.

 

“You sure are,” she said, looking him up and down. Yuuri heard someone walk up behind him, and turned to see Fai standing there, also watching the exchange with a shit-eating grin. He put a finger to his lips and gave Yuuri and Viktor a small wink. Meanwhile, Kurogane just glanced down the hallway Fai had originally gone down, clearly wishing for a timely excuse to escape.

 

“Well, if you’re going to be in town for a while, maybe we could meet for dinner. I know some  _ great _ restaurants.” Aiko topped off this suggestion by putting her hand on top of Kurogane’s. Finally, he jerked away from her and stood.

 

“I’m married,” he said, glaring at her and holding his hand out of her reach. Aiko’s face fell.

 

“But you’re not wearing a ring,” she whined, as though she thought he was lying.

 

“Doesn’t matter. Still married.”

 

“To whom?” Now she just sounded desperate. Yuuri vaguely wondered if she’d ever been turned down before. He turned his head just enough that he could whisper to Fai.

 

“ _ She thinks he’s lying about being married. You could prove her wrong. I bet her face would be priceless. _ ”

 

“ _ Kuro-husband! _ ” Fai said brightly, causing both the girl and Kurogane to whirl and face him so sharply Yuuri thought they might get whiplash.

 

“Mage! There you are. We got the tickets. Let’s go!” Kurogane rambled as he rushed forwards, grabbed Fai’s hand, and dragged him towards the exit. Yuuri looked at Aiko and gave her an apologetic shrug.

 

“Damn, Yuuri, don’t you have any straight, single friends?” she asked, looking dejected.

 

“Sorry, Mari has first dibs.”

 

Yuuri and Viktor turned to chase after to the other two, who had made it surprisingly far. When they caught up, Kurogane was grumbling about people taking too damn long in the bathroom and leaving others vulnerable to awkward situations. Once they passed back into the range of Mokona’s translation abilities, Fai cut off the flustered man’s complaints.

 

“Sorry, Kuro-min!” Fai laughed, not sounding sorry. “I just decided to explore and take the long way around. I was under the impression that you could handle yourself for that long without me.” Kurogane groaned and sent a pleading look to the sky.

 

“Why does this shit always happen to me? Random women never decide to pick on you!”

 

“It’s not my fault you look straight, Kuro-pon,” he said. Then, he looked over at Yuuri and Viktor. “Even in the first world we ended up in-”

 

“Mage, don’t you dare-”

 

“And we stayed with this lovely young couple, Sorata and Arashi-”

 

“That guy was a dick!”

 

“And Sorata would brag about his wife one moment and then in the same breath threaten Kuro-pii with all sorts of bodily harm if he touched her!”

 

Viktor threw his head back and guffawed. Yuuri put his hand to his face in an attempt to hide the ugly snorting laughter coming out of it.

 

“It’s ok, Kurogane,” Yuuri said once he could breathe properly. “ For some reason, the media likes to portray Viktor as this suave, mysterious, womanizing playboy. I guess Russia didn’t want everyone to know what a complete gay dork their national icon is.”

 

“Yuuri!” Viktor whined at him. “Are you saying that I’m not suave and mysterious?”

 

“A suave and mysterious man would have found a better way to announce to me that he's going to be my coach than doing it au naturale.” Yuuri raised an eyebrow at Viktor, daring him to argue. Viktor just shrugged to concede.

 

“Yeah, ok, I did do that.”

 

“Mage, I think we found this world’s counterpart of you,” Kurogane muttered to Fai.

 

“I beg your pardon, Kuro-cynic. Our first meeting was very romantic. Two star-crossed human beings, flung far from home, first making eye contact through the pouring rain… and fully clothed besides that.” Fai placed a hand over his heart and gave Kurogane his best hurt expression.

 

“Don’t exaggerate. And that coat was ridiculous.” Kurogane rolled his eyes at the other man’s dramatics. “That thing weighed more than you do.”

 

Fai hummed noncommittally, and then turned to look at something that caught his eye.

 

“Say, Yuuri, what is that big castle up there?” he pointed, and Yuuri turned to look at where Hasetsu Castle stood proudly at the top of the hill.

 

“Well, it’s called Hasetsu Castle, but it’s actually an old ninja house inside. Now it’s a historical museum.” he shrugged. “We’re still known as a castle town because of it, though.”

 

“A ninja house? Kuro-tan, they should have made you stay there instead of at the inn!”

 

***

 

Once the teenagers arrived back at the inn, Syaoran returned to his room to check on Mokona. He had some leftovers from lunch, and took them to his room with the flimsy excuse that he would need a snack between now and dinnertime. Upon hearing this, Yuuri’s mother insisted on giving him an apple, a box of Pocky, and a bag of rice crackers, claiming that there was no sense in him getting hungry just because he didn’t want to bother her. Her generosity made him smile with gratitude, and he thanked her sincerely before retreating.

 

“Mokona,” he called in a low voice as he entered the room, “I brought you some food.”

 

The moment the door was shut, Mokona sprang out from the folds of Syaoran’s cloak and onto his shoulder.

 

“Food!” they cried out, making grabby motions with their little paws. Syaoran laughed and set everything down on the duvet and sat down next to is, laughing when Mokona immediately ripped open the take-out container and cried out happily at the Okonomiyaki inside.

 

“Where are Big Kitty and Big Doggy?” they asked around a mouthful. Syaoran chuckled at how cute they were.

 

“They went with Yuuri-san and Viktor-san to buy our train tickets to Tokyo. We’re leaving tomorrow morning. Viktor-san asked if they could all come with us, so we’re going to go as a group.” Syaoran grinned. “Yuri-kun and Otabek-kun are coming too. I wonder if they’ll like Kimihiro-kun.”

 

Mokona ate the apple in one bite and ripped open the package of Pocky.

 

“Otabek is a little like Doumeki, so he might get Watanuki all riled up!” they exclaimed, waving a stick of the snack around excitedly. “But I think they’ll get along. Yurio doesn’t seem very nice at first, but I think he really wants to be your friend.”

 

The sliding door of the room slammed open without warning and Yuri marched in.

 

“Hey, Syaoran, come help me kick Otabek’s ass at Mario Ka- **what the fuck is that** .” he said as he entered, changing topic mid-sentence as he caught sight of Mokona. “ **What is that and why is it eating Pocky** .”

 

Syaoran wracked his brain for a way to defuse the situation without revealing too much. Mokona and Yuri held eye contact as Mokona continued to eat Pocky. A moment later, Otabek poked his head in, caught sight of Mokona, and simply muttered a quiet “oh.”

 

“Um… this is Mokona.” Syaoran said after another moment of silence. He couldn’t use the usual stuffed animal excuse, since Yuri had caught Mokona eating and the creature hadn’t even bothered to try and hide the fact that they were doing so. Mokona gave a little wave at the introduction and Yuri looked like he was about to start shouting again.

 

“Is that some sort of fairy?” Otabek asked, and Yuri turned to give him an incredulous stare.

 

“Not… really?” Syaoran said at the same time Mokona swallowed their mouthful and chirped “Mokona is Mokona!”

 

“It  _ talks _ ?” Yuri asked. Mokona nodded and leaped up to perch on Syaoran’s head.

 

“Mokona does far more than talk! Mokona can even disguise their voice! It’s one of Mokona’s one hundred and eight secret techniques!”

 

“We’re… um… not really sure  _ what  _ Mokona is.” He figured that honesty was the best policy with these two. Besides, Yuuri and Viktor (and Makkachin) already knew about Mokona, and the other two skaters were probably trustworthy, right?

 

“You don’t know.” Yuri looked like he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. Syaoran shook his head. “You don’t know what it is… and you’re feeding it Pocky.” Syaoran nodded. Yuri’s eye twitched, and then he was shouting in earnest.

 

“You can’t give chocolate to animals, Syaoran! That thing could die! You’re going to poison the poor thing and then imagine how bad you’ll feel!”

 

Syaoran looked over at Otabek as Yuri continued to rant about how harmful chocolate could be to the liver of a small animal and how Syaoran was being completely irresponsible. The taller boy looked both intrigued at the strange new creature he’d just encountered, and amused at Yuri’s reaction.

 

“If he thinks chocolate is going to harm your liver,” he said to Mokona, “Wait until he hears about your drinking habit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some more notes:
> 
> You cannot tell me that Fai wouldn't have skated whenever he could in Celes once he finally got comfortable there. Half the reason I wanted to write this was so that the Tsubasa family could all skate together.
> 
> I never knew that Yurio and Syaoran being friends could give me such life, but I suppose it was Hitsuzen
> 
> Fai's aversion to sushi amuses me greatly and I love the thought of Kurogane teasing Fai about it. also on the topic of food, I'm projecting my distaste for okonomiyaki sauce onto Yuri. I love the actual dish, just not the sauce.
> 
> The family road trip wasn't where I intended to go with this story, but I couldn't think of a good reason to leave Yurio at the inn, and so of course Otabek had to come.
> 
> Yuuri and Viktor were definitely dating by the lip balm scene in episode five, and Kurogane and Fai have definitely gotten married in at least three of the worlds they've visited plus Nihon and Clow, and you can't convince me otherwise. 
> 
> I've always thought it was funny that Sorata picked Kurogane out of the whole group to threaten re: his wife, since Syaoran was 14 and in love with Sakura and Fai was... well. you get me. So I decided to run with that.
> 
> Yurio is absolutely right. Most animals can't eat chocolate because their livers can't metabolize the theobromine compounds quickly enough, and they get poisoned. So if your pet is not magical, err on the safe side and don't give them chocolate. This has been a PSA.
> 
> thank you again to my lovely Betas for editing and to Xia for inspiring me. Feedback is always a wonderful motivator for me, so consider leaving a comment or Kudos. thanks for reading!


	4. In Which Our Heroes Unlock More Backstory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Otabek knows theoretical physics, Yuri gets blue shelled, Minako gets drunk, and things get deeper than the author intended them to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. A combination of a new internship and writer's block made it difficult, so this sat mostly finished in my Docs folder for a couple weeks as a result. I can't make any promises for when the next chapter will come out, but I'll do my best. There's only a chapter, maybe two, left, so if you have any suggestions, this is the time to tell me :)
> 
> Enjoy!

It took a while to get Yuri to calm down long enough to hear Syaoran’s highly abridged explanation, but Otabek was a great help in this. By that, Syaoran meant that Otabek let the blond boy’s rant run its course, then placed a hand on his shoulder.

 

“Yura,” he said, and Yuri stiffened, then relaxed at his friend’s touch. “Why don’t we hear Syaoran out.” Yuri looked like he was debating whether to give in to the request or not for a few moments, but eventually gave a curt nod and turned to give Syaoran an expectant look.

 

“So- um- Kurogane-san, Fai-san, Mokona, and I all travel together. Yuri, what I told you last night was true. We _are_ looking for a way to find my parents… but we’re not just searching… _this_ universe. We’re searching as many as we can. And Mokona is how we get between them.” Syaoran gave them both a wary glance, hoping that they would believe him. Yuuri and Viktor had taken the news a lot better than most, but Yuri’s reaction was more in line with how non-magical people usually reacted. To his surprise, Otabek nodded.

 

“So this… Mokona,” he started, “Has the power to find the thin spaces between dimensions, make a temporary opening, and safely take not only itself but you three through the resulting wormhole. Does this mechanism relate to the quantum entanglement resulting from the points where, as Schrödinger theorised, two universes split from each other at the moment of a choice?”

 

“Beka,” Yuri said, giving the older boy a flat look. “The fuck are you talking about?”

 

“I’ve done some reading on theoretical physics.” Otabek shrugged. Syaoran looked at him in confusion, not really understanding much of what he’d just said.

 

“I- maybe? I don’t know. We usually just say ‘magic’ and leave it at that. Unfortunately the ones who created Mokona are dead now, so we don’t have anyone we can ask about that.” Syaoran scratched the back of his neck, looking down at Mokona. While he’d long since gotten used to his smallest travelling companion, it did still occasionally strike him just how _weird_ the creature was. “Mokona also translates for us, so that we can all understand each other and the people we meet. We’re all from different worlds, and even worlds that are similar to our home ones sometimes have very different languages.”

 

“Wait, wait, hold the fuck up,” Yuri said, putting a hand to his forehead. “I’m still stuck on the fact that there are apparently different worlds. And you visit them.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“So what world are you from? I thought you were in Japan to visit your brother.”

 

“I actually grew up in this world. Kimihiro took over the shop of the Dimensional Witch, Ichihara Yuuko, when she died. My father grew up in Hong Kong, and is descended from the great sorcerer Clow Reed, who helped Yuuko make Mokona. My mother grew up in Tomoeda, which is near Tokyo. Apparently there’s an alternate universe where she is also a powerful sorcerer and inherited Clow’s power, but I haven’t visited that one. But then I spent several years of my childhood in another world, in a kingdom called Clow. That’s where Sakura lives.”

 

“Your girlfriend lives an entirely separate universe? That’s gotta suck.” Yuri’s brow was slowly relaxing, although he still looked rather like he was convinced he was dreaming. “And your friends?”

 

“Fai-san was born in a place called Valeria, but grew up in a different world called Celes after its king adopted him. There was an… um… incident, and now Celes no longer exists.”

 

“No longer **exists**?” Even Otabek had a confused look on his face. Syaoran shook his head.

 

“It’s complicated. Kurogane grew up in Nihon, which is a lot like this country during the Sengoku era. He was the bodyguard of the Empress’s younger sister, Tomoyo-hime, until she banished him for killing too many people. Whenever we end up back there, Tomoyo is always happy to hear about what we’ve been up to.”

 

Yuri and Otabek nodded. Yuri looked like he was finally catching up with the plot of the conversation, while Otabek simply looked like he was storing everything in his head for later deep pondering. Syaoran was inwardly very grateful that there was no more shouting. The last thing he needed was more people coming to investigate a commotion and finding out about Mokona. Although, now that he thought about it, no one had reacted to Yuri’s shouted rant, so perhaps everyone was used to his outbursts at this point.

 

“So is this what you guys were talking about with Katsudon and Viktor last night?” Yuri asked. Syaoran nodded, and Yuri made an annoyed expression. “Figures. They may act like idiots, but they have their moments.”

 

Syaoran smiled at how like Kurogane the boy had sounded just then.

 

“Well, come on,” Yuri said, gesturing for everyone to leave the room. “If we’re going to Tokyo tomorrow, then I want it to be after I’ve kicked both of your asses in Mario Kart.”

 

Syaoran stood and followed him and Otabek out of his room. Mokona waved them off, diving into the bag of rice crackers happily.

 

“I’ve never played Mario Kart before,” he admitted. Yuri gave him a challenging grin.

 

“Well, don’t expect me to go easy on you.”

 

***

 

When Yuuri, Viktor, Fai, and Kurogane got back to the inn, they found Minako and Hiroko happily chatting in the dining room

 

“We’re back,” Yuuri said, walking up and sitting down next to his mother, who gave him a one armed hug.

 

“Welcome back, everyone,” she said. “I was just telling Minako about our new guests. How was your outing earlier?”

 

“It was great!” Viktor enthused as he sat on Yuuri’s otherside. The other two sat down as well, with Kurogane next to Minako. “We got the tickets and we’re leaving for Tokyo at six tomorrow morning.”

 

“Tokyo?” Minako asked. “Whatever for?”

 

“Ah, I’m afraid that’s our fault,” Fai said, giving Minako and apologetic smile. “We meant to go there to visit our friends, but we accidentally ended up here in Hasetsu instead. Yuuri and Viktor were kind enough to- ask first, Kuro-rin!” he swatted Kurogane’s hand away from where he was reaching for the bottle of sake and one of the cups on the table. Kurogane scoffed at him.

 

“No, no, go ahead. It’s hard to find a drinking buddy who can match me.” Minako gestured towards the sake bottle. “That is, if you think you can handle it.”

 

“Lady, you don’t know the half of it.” Kurogane gave her a challenging smirk and poured himself a cup. “You joining us?” he asked Fai, who just held up his hands in surrender.

 

“No thank you. Even I can’t keep up with Kuro-sama when he gets serious, and you know how hungover I get.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh, and Kurogane just hummed around the lip of his cup. Viktor leaned over to mutter in Yuuri’s ear.

 

“Five hundred yen on Minako-sensei. I’ve never seen anyone with a more iron-clad liver.”

 

“You’re so wrong,” Yuuri murmured back, grinning. “She’s already made some headway, and you must not have noticed how unaffected Kurogane was during your drinking contest last night.”

 

There was suddenly a crash and a great deal of what sounded like Yuri shouting upstairs. Yuuri looked up at the ceiling, wondering if he should go check on what was happening. Then he managed to make out something that sounded like “-motherfucking blue shelled me, I will **end** you-” and decided that it wasn’t worth bothering with if all they were getting worked up about was a game of Mario Kart.

 

“I hope sure my Wii makes it through Yurio’s stay again,” he sighed.

 

“What are they doing?” Fai asked, also looking at the ceiling with concern. He was making the same face that Yuuri’s mother did when drunk guests got a little too rowdy around the paper screens and were in danger of falling through them.

 

“Don’t worry, they’re just playing video games. Yurio was bound to challenge Syaoran at some point.” Viktor just looked fond as he sighed. “His competitive streak serves him well when skating, but sometimes I wish he wouldn’t let it control everything else he does.”

 

“Remember that time we went to that all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant in St. Petersburg and he swore to eat more than either of us, and the next day he had the worst stomach ache?” Yuuri said, nudging Viktor in the side. Fai shuddered at the mention of the dish. Minako barked out a laugh.

 

“That sure sounds like him!” she said. Then she looked at her new drinking companion. “So, Kurogane, right? Is Syaoran your son?”

 

“We’re his godparents,” Kurogane said. Fai nodded serenely.

 

“His parents entrusted him to us. He’s a wonderful boy,” he added.

 

“That’s so great that he has you two,” Hiroko enthused, clasping her hands over her heart. Minako nodded in agreement. “Our family has certainly grown since Vicchan and little Yurio came to Hasetsu last year. Why, I never would have thought before then that I’d one day be getting a call from a grumpy Russian skating coach telling me not to let his star skaters try to get away with anything while staying here.”

 

“Yakov said that?” Yuuri said with a groan, side-eying Viktor. “How much hell have you put him through over the years?”

 

“Enough,” was all Viktor said with a nonchalant shrug.

 

Minako laughed and slammed down the now empty sake bottle. Yuuri took it and moved to get another from the kitchen. If Minako and Kurogane were really going to go drink for drink together, they would be needing a lot.

 

“So what do you guys do, when you’re not getting lost in small seaside villages?” he heard Minako ask. To be honest, he was rather curious how they would answer, since it wasn’t like they could give her the honest answer right off the bat.

 

“Odd jobs, mostly. Whatever’s available where we end up,” Kurogane said. Fai nodded and explained further.

 

“Kuro-min is a trained martial artist, so sometimes he enters competitions. I’m a pretty competent chef, although nowhere near as good as Hiroko here.”

 

Yuuri re-entered the room in time to see his mother blushing happily at the compliment.

 

“What kind of martial arts?” Minako immediately grabbed the sake from Yuuri and refilled hers and Kurogane’s glasses.

 

“Kenjutsu, mostly. Some Karate.” Kurogane took a long, slow sip. “A few other forms too, but none that I really continued with.”

 

“Kenjutsu, wow. And here I thought Ballet was a difficult art form.” Minako raised an impressed eyebrow at Kurogane, who looked about as quietly pleased as one could while still retaining a stoic expression.

 

“My father taught me everything he knew,” Kurogane said quietly. “I inherited his sword, Ginryuu. I’m very proud that I can continue his legacy.”

 

There was a moment of contemplative silence before Fai leaned forward and gave Minako a bright smile.

 

“Speaking of legacies, am I correct in assuming that you taught Yuuri dance? I can tell from his movements that he’s studied it.”

 

“Oh, yes!” Minako said, looking very proud. “He was my star pupil, until he decided that he preferred figure skating. There’s a lot of crossover, though, so I did continue teaching him until he went to college in America. And now he gets to study under Madame Baranovskaya in Russia. I’ve had the pleasure of working with her in the past, so I know he’s in good hands.”

 

“Yuuri, you must be very talented!” Fai said, and Kurogane nodded in silent agreement. Before Yuuri could stutter out any sort of response, Minako interrupted with an “Of course he is!” that made Yuuri flush in embarrassment,

 

“It’s getting him to believe it that’s the problem,” she continued, to which Viktor nodded forcefully. Yuuri put his face in his hands to cover his spreading flush as his fiance slung an arm around him.

 

“Do you dance, Fai? You seem built for it.” Minako turned her attention back to the blonde now that her former student was sufficiently embarrassed. Fai shook his head.

 

“Not ballet, I’m afraid, but my adoptive father did teach me several styles of ballroom.”

 

“Show me!” Minako leaped up from the table, only a little wobbly from the alcohol, and scrambled to tug the blond man to his feet as well. Kurogane simply raised an eyebrow and continued to sip at his sake, seeming to feel no need to intervene. Fai soon acquiesced to Minako’s demands, and with only a little fumbling, they settled into a position. It was almost comical how much taller Fai was compared to Minako, but that didn’t seem to hinder them as they began a lively foxtrot, Fai humming some unknown melody to keep them in time.

 

“Senpai, please don’t trip over the furniture this time!” Hiroko called, but she didn’t seem too concerned. Fai was, after all, sober and in the lead. She reached over and peered inside the sake bottle. “Would you like another one, Kurogane?”

 

“Please. I can’t wait to see how this ends.” he let out a small chuckle.

 

***

 

“Oh, dear. What happened here?” Toshiya asked, surveying the state of the people in the dining room about an hour later. Minako was sprawled out on the table, trying desperately to reach for the sake bottle that Viktor was holding far out of her reach. Fai was laying sideways with his upper body draped across Kurogane’s lap, staring at the ceiling and looking for all the world like he was trying to see through it. He and Hiroko were having a low conversation about baking times and temperatures as related to what type of flour a recipe uses. Kurogane was silently sipping on his final cup of sake while his fingers carded through Fai’s hair, which had long since lost its hair tie. Yuuri was trying to dissuade Minako from crawling across the table to get at Viktor and the sake, which wasn’t too difficult, as she could barely lift her upper body from its surface, while Viktor used his free hand to scroll through the pictures he had taken of Fai and Minako’s dance on his phone. Luckily, none of the furniture had been damaged, although the inn’s supply of sake had suffered. Kurogane was actually beginning to look flushed from the alcohol, though he still seemed in perfect control of his motor functions and speech, when he had anything to add.

 

“Oh, sorry dad,” Yuuri said, looking up at his dad sheepishly. “Kurogane and Minako decided to try and match each other drinking. By the way, Viktor, you owe me 500 yen.”

 

“Yes, yes. Toshiya, would you be so kind as to take this before Minako does?” Viktor held out the sake bottle for Yuuri’s bemused father to take.

 

“Well, so long as nothing gets broken, I suppose Minako is responsible enough to deal with her own hangovers,” he said with a laugh and took the bottle. Yuuri relaxed with a sigh of relief as Minako accepted her defeat and slumped the rest of the way onto the tabletop.

 

“Oh, she’s passed out,” Hiroko commented dryly. “Well, I’d better start getting ready for the dinner rush.” she went over to the stairs and called for Mari to come down to help her, and then went into the kitchen to start the preparations for the night’s meals. A few moments later the sound of a stampede made its way down the stairs, and Yuri flew into the dining room with Syaoran, Otabek, and Mari behind him. Mari had a smug expression that Yuuri recognized from their childhood when she managed to con him into doing something. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she just pointed towards an annoyed Yuri before disappearing into the kitchen. Yuri, meanwhile, plopped down on the tatami mat in the space Hiroko had just vacated, right next to Yuuri.

 

“Your sister is a menace,” he growled. The other two teens came and sat next to him. Otabek carefully rearranged Minako’s limbs so that they all had enough room.

 

“I know,” Yuuri said. He had grown up with her, after all. “What did she do this time?”

 

“We were playing Mario Kart, and we invited her to join because it's more fun when you have more people to beat, and she won. Every single game.” Yuri crossed his arms and slumped onto the table like a pouting child. Yuuri gave him a pat on the shoulder.

 

“Just because she’s not an athlete doesn’t mean she’s any less competitive than I am,” he said.

 

“I thought adults were supposed to be bad at video games and let the younger ones win.” Yuri’s grumble was barely audible.

 

“Yurio, you hate being treated like a child,” Viktor cut in, leaning around Yuuri to ruffle the blond’s hair in complete contradiction to what he had just said. Yuri slapped his hand away and stuck out his tongue.

 

“I still had fun, though, Yuri-kun,” Syaoran said. “It was a lot more fun than the last video game I played.” Yuri lifted his head to look at him.

 

“What game was that?”

 

“It was this virtual reality game where it was like you lived a second life, except there were demons to kill. It… wasn’t different enough from my normal life to actually be fun.”

 

“That game was awful!” Fai interjected. From his position on Kurogane’s lap, neither he nor Syaoran could see each other. “I got killed, and not even in a cool way, either. No, just impaled by a sociopathic vampire hunter!”

 

“If it makes you feel any better, Fai-san, Seishirou-san killed me too when I went to avenge you.”

 

“Thank you for saying that, Syaoran.”

 

“So what you’re saying,” Yuri said slowly, as if laying out a master plan, “Is that we need to get this… Seishirou dude and pit him against Mari in a video game battle royale.”

 

Everyone gave Yuri a perplexed look. Fai even sat up to do so.

 

“What?” He asked. “If he thinks he’s such a good gamer that he would pick on other players rather than the monsters, then he deserves to get his ass kicked.”

 

Kurogane barked out a short laugh.

 

“I like the way this kid thinks.” Fai nodded in agreement and flopped back against Kurogane’s side.

 

“Loyal and kind under a veneer of annoyance. Just like you, Kuro-pon.” Fai laughed as both Yuri and Kurogane began to sputter indignantly at him. “They’re good traits to have!” he cried out, throwing his hands up to protect his head from the noogie Kurogane was attempting to give him.

 

Yuuri leaned over to whisper in Viktor’s ear. “At least I’m not the only one who noticed that similarity.” Viktor nodded in response. They continued watching the charade as it went on. Fai started digging his fingers into Kurogane’s sides in an attempt to tickle the ninja, who did his best to squirm away from them while still keeping Fai in a headlock. Syaoran had put a hand to the side of his face so that he could talk to the other teens without seeing the ridiculous things his godparents were doing. Yuri looked back and forth between the wresting pair and the snuggling pair, an accusing look on his face. Otabek had a small amused curl to his mouth, and was speaking to Syaoran in too low of a voice for Yuuri to make out the words.

 

Mari poked her head into the room.

 

“Hey, Yuuri, come help me with this tray,” she said, jabbing her thumb in the direction of the kitchen. Yuuri nodded, stood, and followed her in. When he saw the giant tray with seven steaming bowls on it and a teapot in the middle, he grinned and gave his mother a grateful nod. She responded with an equally bright grin. Yuuri and Mari both hefted the tray and crab-walked out to the dining room with practiced movements. Once there, Mari held the tray steady while Yuuri set down a bowl in front of each of his friends, minus a snoring Minako. The remaining bowl went in front of his spot and the teapot onto the middle of the table. Finally, Mari pulled six sets of chopsticks and a fork from her apron pocket and placed them next to the teapot.

 

“It smells great!” Fai enthused. He bent low over the bowl and inhaled deeply.

 

“It’s oyakodon,” Kurogane said. “Chicken, egg, rice, broth.”

 

Yuuri nodded.

 

“It’s another one of my mom’s best dishes.”

 

“You think all mom’s dishes are her best,” Mari commented, tucking the tray under her arm and returning to the kitchen.

 

“Because it’s true!” he shouted after her as he sat back down next to Viktor. Viktor nodded and hummed vigorously in agreement, but said nothing, since his mouth was already full. A quick look around the table showed that everyone else was in a similar state, save for Syaoran, who muttered a quick “Itadakimasu”, which Yuuri echoed, before digging in. Yuuri was glad that he could share this with his new friends. Good food and good company should give them the energy they would need for the long train ride to Tokyo tomorrow.

 

***

 

“Yuuri, are you ready to go to the springs?” Viktor asked once dinner was finished. The others had all gone their separate ways, presumably to go play more video games or to bathe. Yuuri had just finished helping his mother and Mari clean up the dishes and utensils and was wiping down the table. He carefully traced around where a still-snoring Minako lay. It could wait until they moved her to wipe off the drool.

 

“You can go ahead. I think I’m going to go and pay my respects first,” Yuuri said softly, pointing towards the room where Vicchan’s shrine sat. “I haven’t in awhile.”

 

Viktor gave him a soft smile and nodded. He shifted and knee-walked over to his fiance, leaning down to give him a gentle kiss. Yuuri smiled into it and giggled when Viktor moved to give him an obnoxious, loud smooch on his right cheek, and then another on the left. To retaliate, he reached out and dug his fingers into Viktor’s sides, just below his waist. The older man squealed a surprised laugh and squirmed away.

 

“I’ll be waiting in the bath when you’re done,” Viktor said, standing fully and pulling Yuuri up with him. “Take your time.”

 

Yuuri gave him a grateful nod. With one last peck, Viktor turned and left the dining room through the door that led to the back half of the inn. Yuuri smiled after him for a moment, then walked into the kitchen to grab a bun to place as an offering. They had taken to keeping the door leading to the room with Vicchan’s shrine firmly closed to avoid another incident like the one that had nearly killed Makkachin, so he felt safe in leaving an offering for his late friend. He slid open the door and walked over to the shrine. He placed the bun on the plate in front of the photo of a young him and his small, fluffy dog smiling at the camera, gazing at it as he knelt down.

 

“Hey, Vicchan,” he said, voice low, “We have some new guests recently I think you would like.”

 

He told Vicchan all about the travelers who had come to Hasetsu. How Fai and Kurogane had fallen out of the sky in front of them and how their first encounter had, of course, been a doggy hug from Makkachin. It was entirely within the realm of possibility that, had Vicchan been there, he would have greeted them in the same way. Yuuri told Vicchan about how there had been a language barrier at first, which had made him extremely grateful that he had been working so hard on learning Russian, and that Viktor had insisted on teaching him the basics even as far back as last summer, as thanks for helping Viktor with his Kana and Kanji literacy. He explained how Syaoran had shown up with Mokona, and the unbelievable explanations that had followed. Well, they might have been unbelievable had he not seen plenty of evidence to support the travelers’ claims. He then told Vicchan about their outing earlier, how awkward the big ninja had looked on the ice at first, and how Yuri had basically taken possession of Syaoran and, with Otabek, had formed a sudden, intense friendship. Yuuri also mentioned that he thought Vicchan would have loved Mokona, given how well Mokona and Makkachin got along. Although Makkachin had a different personality than Vicchan had, there were still a lot of similarities between the two dogs, and he couldn’t help smiling at the thought of both dogs playing with the small white creature.

 

Yuuri trailed off after a few minutes, having finished his story. His mind drifted a little bit, thinking about all of the weirdness of the past two days. He was sure that even with all of the unbelievable things he had heard from the travelers, he had only just scratched the surface of a weird, dangerous world that he had previously known nothing about. He wondered if he should put more stock into the old legends and superstitions he had dismissed as a child for being too fantastical. Clearly Kurogane, Fai, Syaoran, and Mokona had told him and Viktor only a fraction of their experiences, and he imagined that the full story was something that he might not actually want to know. Even the small amount he had learned he would have probably written off as too unbelievable had he read it in a manga or something.

 

“Vicchan, the world is far stranger than I ever would have believed it was a year ago.”

 

“That’s a common sentiment around us, I think.”

 

Yuuri turned to face the speaker behind him. It was Fai, clad in the green guest robes and leaning against the doorframe.

 

“Oh, hello, Fai,” Yuuri said, giving him a smile, “What’s up?”

 

“I just had a stupid question, don’t worry about it,” he responded, waving a hand nonchalantly and walking over to where Yuuri knelt. “Viktor told me I might find you here. I hope I didn’t startle you, but I was trying to wait until you weren’t lost in thought.”

 

“It’s ok. I was just telling Vicchan about everything.” Yuuri gestured to the photo on the altar. Fai leaned over to look at it and cooed when he saw what the subject was.

 

“What an adorable picture! What kind of dog was it? It looks like a tiny Makkachin,” he said, reaching out to tilt the picture up to look at it better. Yuuri gave an uncomfortable laugh.

“Yeah… he was a miniature poodle. He died a little over a year ago, right before a huge skating competition. It… I was already really nervous about it, but when I got the call about Vicchan…”

 

“You couldn’t get past it?” Fai offered, still looking at the photo. His face looked more contemplative than it had a few moments ago.

 

“I bombed the competition, came in dead last by a huge margin.” Yuuri sighed and scratched the back of his neck. “I hadn’t seen Vicchan in five years at that point. I’d moved to America, halfway around the world, for school and training, so I never had time to come home. I felt really guilty about it for a long time.”

 

Fai gave him a sidelong, assessing look. His expression was nearly unreadable, but Yuuri thought he saw a hint of empathy in his eyes.

 

“And… do you still?” he asked. “Feel guilty, I mean?”

 

“No.” Yuuri shook his head, looking down briefly. “I mean, not in the same way. I still regret not getting to see him again. He couldn’t have understood why I left, and I’m probably never going to stop missing him, but… I know it wasn’t my fault. I just wish I could have said goodbye.”

 

Fai crouched down next to Yuuri, not quite looking at him, and nodded.

 

“I don’t imagine there’s anyone who doesn’t have someone they miss, whom they didn’t get to say goodbye to. But if there’s one unbreakable rule in existence, it's that the dead don’t ever come back.” Fai’s voice was low, and he sounded terribly like he was speaking from experience. He looked at Yuuri and gave him a sad smile. “But that’s why it’s so important to not get stuck in the past, isn’t it? Cherish what you have, and keep moving forward.”

 

From this close, Yuuri could make out faint white scars above and below the man’s left eye. He was tempted to ask what had put that expression on his face, but thought better of it. He could sense that Fai had already found some sort of closure on whatever it was, and if he wasn’t going to volunteer that information, Yuuri wasn’t going to ask. Instead, he just returned the smile and nodded. Fai’s smile widened. He stood and held out a hand to help Yuuri up as well. As Yuuri reached for it, he noticed that Fai’s fingertips were also covered in scar tissue, much older and more faded.

 

“What was it that you wanted to ask me earlier?” He asked as he stood, in order to keep himself from thinking too deeply about what his new friends may have gone through. Fai looked a little confused at the sudden change of subject for a moment, but then laughed.

 

“Oh, I was just wondering if we might have a chance to stop somewhere where they sell magazines at some point tomorrow. Kuro-tan is a big fan of some manga series that the magazine ‘Maganyan’ publishes, and he’s eager to get the next issue.”

 

Yuuri gave a short laugh at the mental image of the large ninja curled up with the latest issue of a monthly manga serialization.

 

“Yeah, there are bookstores and magazine stands all over Tokyo, and there should also be at least one in the first station we transfer trains at. We’ll probably have enough time to make a quick stop for that.”

 

“Hooray!” Fai cried, throwing his hands into the air. “I’m going to go give Kuro-pipi the good news!”

 

He waved a goodbye at Yuuri and walked off towards his and Kurogane’s room. Yuuri waved back with a bemused smile. Their conversation, like all his conversations with the group of travelers so far, had had an undercurrent of subtext that he couldn’t possibly interpret. Normally that sort of thing would have made him nervous that someone was hiding something from him, but for now, he was fine with it. His instincts were all telling him that, whatever these people hid, it was out of protection or a desire for privacy rather than any ill-will. His mind flitted back to what Fai had said moments before. “The dead don’t ever come back.” The blond man had been speaking from experience, Yuuri was sure of it. If Fai didn’t want to divulge the details of who he had lost and how long it had taken him to move on, then Yuuri could understand. It had taken him months before he had finally been able to tell Viktor about Vicchan. It still hurt, sometimes, to think about.

 

With one last smile at Vicchan’s shrine, Yuuri closed the door to the room and headed off in the direction of the baths. He may as well take Fai’s advice and cherish any opportunity he had to be close with Viktor, even if it was just a routine bath at the end of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have only a very basic knowledge of theoretical physics, and a lot of my ideas about how travel between multiverses would work come from the _Young Wizards_ series by Diane Duane and from the _His Dark Materials_ series by Phillip Pullman. CLAMP never really gives an explanation for the mechanism, hence Syaoran's response of "idk, magic?"
> 
> I am not good at Mario Kart, and i don't play many video games, but it seems like the kind of thing Yurio would love.
> 
> I didn't mean to include another drinking contest, but I couldn't help but wonder how Minako would stack up against Kurogane. Also, I seem to have a thing for Yuuri and Viktor making harmless bets.
> 
> Kurogane says kenjutsu rather than kendo because, according to the info I could find, kendo is a relatively modern (i.e. post Meiji Reformation) form that was based on a combination of different styles of kenjutsu, which is the general term for the sword arts. This means that the style that Kurogane's father taught him was one form of kenjutsu. If i'm wrong, please correct me.
> 
> The foxtrot is my favorite style of ballroom to dance, since you dance it in 4/4 time, so that's what I had Fai do.
> 
> Mari's prowess at Mario Kart is based on my own sister. The only game I can ever beat her in is pick-up sticks.
> 
> Syaoran is talking about Outo as if it were him there simply for brevity's sake. I know in chapter 1 he said it was his dad/clone who got drunk, but i figured that it would be easier to talk about the video game situation without going through the whole "it wasn't actually me, but my clone/dad, but i was watching through his right eye, so it was like i was there" thing. also, I hate Seishirou, can you tell?
> 
> Oyakodon is one of my favorite japanese foods, so I had to include it.
> 
> Completeoveranalysis on tumblr recently reviewed the omake (chapter 90.5, i think?) where the family discusses how Kurogane somehow finds a copy of Maganyan in every world. i had to work that in, because that is one of my favorite tiny details in the series.
> 
> feel free to point out any mistakes you see or to give me suggestions, since my betas have decided to be useless and not look at this chapter for me. I think I got everything, but you never know. I also just love comments, even if it's a keysmash.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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